Recent Antioch High School graduate Adia Musana is the 2023 recipient of the Chaput-Avery Family Foundation Scholarship. The 18-year-old was selected from a stellar group of Antioch High seniors who have taken part in the Chaput-Avery Family Foundation Leadership Scholars Program through YWCA’s Girls, Inc. program. She will be pursuing a degree in marketing at the University of Tennessee — Chattanooga this fall.

“Being awarded this scholarship means I am able to further my educational goals and not have to worry about the burden of debt, along with the stress of being a new college student.” said Adia Musana. “I am so grateful to the Chaput-Avery Family Foundation and Girls, Inc. and hope and dream that someday I can be placed in a position to give back to younger girls in the future who were once like me, dreamers.”

Adia’s parents fled their war-torn homeland of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the early 2000s and settled in Nashville where she and her sisters were born and raised. She is the fourth Metro Nashville Public School senior to be awarded this scholarship. Each recipient took part in YWCA’s weekly Girls, Inc. classroom programming that focuses on building confidence and setting academic, personal, and career goals. They also participated in monthly in-depth leadership and college readiness workshops.

The latest scholarship recipient was selected based on her GPA, school and community involvement, and leadership skills. One of Adia’s teachers recommended her to the judging committee, sharing that she gives 100% and always does the right thing, even when no one else is looking. She describes her as a very special student who can be trusted to always make great decisions

YWCA’s Girls, Inc. program began partnering with the Chaput-Avery Family Foundation in the summer of 2019 to launch its leadership and scholarship program at Antioch High School. Scholarship recipients are mentored throughout their four years of college by Dr. Chaput Guizani, the foundation’s vice president and board member, who is also a former K-12 teacher, administrator, and university instructor. The academic and leadership initiative has reached more than 50 young women at Antioch and other MNPS high schools where Girls, Inc. programming is taking place.

“We couldn’t be more delighted with this partnership and the impact it is having on our Girls, Inc. high school juniors and seniors,” said YWCA President/CEO Sharon K. Roberson. “With its keen focus on earning her college degree and the positive impact that college education brings, every student who participates is learning important leadership skills and lessons that they will carry throughout their lives.”