Scholarships
Available
$2,500
for Top Video
$2,500
for Top Essay
Rules and Requirements
Mesothelioma cancer claims the lives of thousands of people every year in the United States and its impact is felt for a lifetime by tens of thousands more people who are dear to them. Baron & Budd mesothelioma attorneys have been dedicated to fighting for the rights of mesothelioma cancer victims and their loved ones for more than four decades and have established these scholarships to honor their legacy.
Eligibility
Each entry must meet the following eligibility requirements to be considered for the scholarship:
- Must be accepted to a US-based four-year university or college for any field of study (scholarship funds will be dispersed directly to your school)
- Must provide two letters of recommendation that both specifically name the Baron & Budd Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship and state the relationship to the student
- You may submit either a video or written essay
- Video must be a 2-3 minute YouTube video
- YouTube videos must include https://www.baronandbudd.com/mesothelioma-lawyers/scholarships/ in the YouTube video description.
- Written essay must be between 800-1,250 words
- Video must be a 2-3 minute YouTube video
- Please submit all documents and videos in English
- Cannot be an employee or family member of an employee of Baron & Budd
- Deadline for submissions is November 1, 2024
- Scholarship winners will be announced December 13, 2024
Essay and Video Topics
How has cancer impacted your life? It can be any kind of cancer.
Mesothelioma cancers, as well as other terminal cancers, have an impact well beyond the victim alone. How has receiving a cancer diagnosis for you or your loved one impacted your life? How did it impact you while your loved one was fighting their illness? What hardships did you or your family experience? How will this scholarship help you to reach your academic goals?
How to apply
1 Write your essay or record your video
Essay must be between 800-1,250 words. Videos must be between 2 and 3 minutes long.
2 Fill out the online application
Submit your essay or provide a link to your YouTube video. Submit a clear, professional style headshot.
3 Provide proof of enrollment
Finalists will be required to provide proof of enrollment for scholarship consideration and disbursement to the winner.
Winning Entries
Winning entries will be published on our website and also in our respective social media spaces. By submitting your essay or video, you allow Baron & Budd to publish your entry and also use your name and photo.
2024 Spring Scholarship Winner
Avery Gray – Avery Gray is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Gray’s winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her moving essay outlined her experience of receiving a cancer diagnosis as a child, the lasting effects of the treatments, and the life lessons she learned throughout the journey. She attends the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor where she is majoring in Biochemistry.
2023 Fall Scholarship Winner
Taylor Hay – Taylor Hay is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Hay’s winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her touching essay detailed how her battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, when she was only 9 years old, shaped her outlook on life. Hay has dedicated much of her time to raising money for cancer research charities. She attends Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and will be graduating in May.
2023 Spring Scholarship Winner
Sara Pross – Sara Pross is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Pross’ winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her powerful and moving essay detailed her father’s battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and how it shaped her life. Pross has dedicated much of her time to raising money for AML research and volunteering to help cancer patients. She will be attending New England Law in Boston and will continue to volunteer with the Leukemia Society to keep fighting for a cure.
2023 Spring Scholarship Winner
Grace Garza – Grace Garza is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Garza’s winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her video focused on a friend who was diagnosed with brain cancer and how she has helped provide support for him and his family by raising money and volunteering. Garza is attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she is pursuing a degree in criminology.
2022 Fall Scholarship Winner
Soraya Chinloy – Soraya Chinloy is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Chinloy’s winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her video focused on her own struggles with myelodysplastic syndrome and how it has shaped her faith and outlook on life. Chinloy described the physical and mental challenges she has faced during her journey with disorder and explains how she has remained thankful during the experience. Chinloy is attending Palm Beach Atlantic University where she is pursuing a degree in the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner program.
2022 Fall Scholarship Winner
Isabella Toth – Isabella Toth is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Toth’s winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her remarkably moving essay detailed her ongoing battle with Hodgkin lymphoma and how the side effects of losing her hair from chemotherapy took a seemingly negative experience and turned it into a positive outlook filled with humor and hope when she decided to start an entertaining bucket hat collection that would bring joy to everyone around her. Toth explained how her search for a solution to hide her balding head turned into a way to connect with people and make them smile. She will be attending Northwestern University where she will major in biomedical engineering.
2022 Spring Scholarship Winner
Alanna Thornton – Alanna Thornton is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Thornton’s winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her remarkably creative essay ties pivotal moments in her life to experiences with food including how a Make-A-Wish food tour of Los Angeles helped relieve anxiety and bring some normalcy to her family as they struggled with her little brother’s diagnosis of Leukemia. Thornton explained how her brother’s cancer treatments helped her discover her own identity and the impact she wants to have on the world. She is attending the University of North Carolina Asheville.
2022 Spring Scholarship Winner
Carolyn Simbirdi – Carolyn Simbirdi is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Simbirdi’s winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her video focused on her own struggles with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and how it has affected her and her family. Simbirdi described the emotional and mental challenges she faced during her journey with cancer and explains how she learned to be grateful for the experience and the lessons it taught her. Simbirdi is attending California State University, Chico where she is pursuing a degree in communications.
2021 Fall Scholarship Winner
Jeyka Pérez Arocho – Jeyka Pérez Arocho is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Pérez Arocho’s winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her essay detailed the struggle of losing her mother to breast cancer when she was just a teenager. Years later, she was also devastated and shocked to learn that her older sister was also diagnosed with breast cancer. With a life seriously impacted by cancer, Pérez Arocho realized she wanted to become a lawyer to help support her family and others going through similar experiences. She is attending Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico.
2021 Fall Scholarship Winner
Ianka Alicea – Ianka Alicea is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Alicea’s winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her video focused on her mom’s recent diagnosis with breast cancer and how it has affected her and her family. Alicea describes the close relationship he has with her mother and how she had to overcome emotional and mental challenges to stay strong for her mother and her family. Alicea is attending the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico where she is pursuing a degree in education to become a visual arts teacher. Alicea says art provides an outlet for her to express her emotions throughout her mom’s journey with cancer.
2021 Spring Scholarship Winner
Makenna Thomas – Makenna Thomas is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Thomas’ winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her essay detailed her own struggle with cancer when she was diagnosed during her freshman year of high school. Thomas explains how she dealt with the emotional trauma caused by cancer and how she found the courage to rise above it. Through her journey with cancer, Thomas realized she wanted to find ways to help others. She has decided to study neuroscience in college with the hope of discovering less invasive treatments and better outcomes for cancer patients. Thomas is in her first year at the University of California Los Angeles.
2021 Spring Scholarship Winner
Jackson Sherman – Jackson Sherman is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Sherman’s winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. His video focused on how cancer has affected many members in his family, particularly his great aunt. Sherman describes the close relationship he has with his great aunt and how he has seen cancer drastically affect her health. Sherman will be attending the University of Hartford where he will pursue a degree in art, specifically illustration. Sherman says art provides an outlet for him and way to cope with the grief he experiences from cancer.
2020 Fall Scholarship Winner
Avery Moxness – Avery Moxness is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Moxness’ winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her video focused on her own diagnosis with brain cancer earlier this year. Moxness explains how she was unknowingly dealing with the effects of a brain tumor for years. She was often suffering from migraines and other severe pains that limited her activities, but she learned to persevere and remain positive. After having surgery to remove the tumor, Moxness is doing much better and spending most of her time trying to decide which college she will attend for musical theater. Moxness has been accepted to four colleges and will be completing her auditions for the schools’ musical theater programs soon.
2020 Fall Scholarship Winner
Parker Rollins – Parker Rollins is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Rollins’ winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. His essay detailed how he handled his father’s fight with adrenal cortical carcinoma. Rollins explains how he had to step up and take over many of his dad’s responsibilities and support his family. He describes how his father has always been his role model. When his father was ill, Rollins realized that he wanted to find ways to help others. He took leadership roles in his school, church, and community in order to give back and provide care to those less fortunate. Rollins is in his sophomore year at the University of Oregon. He is majoring in finance and plans to pursue his master’s degree after he graduates.
2020 Spring Scholarship Winner
Christopher Givens – Christopher Givens is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Givens’ winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. His essay detailed how his family has battled a genetic form of cancer called Retinoblastoma. Givens explains that retinoblastoma is a pediatric cancer of the eye that has affected his grandfather, mother, and two younger brothers. He describes what it is like to be one of the only members of his family who does not physically suffer from cancer but tells how he is still impacted by its effects. Givens has a positive attitude aimed toward problem-solving and would like to make a difference in finding new cancer treatment solutions. He will be majoring in chemical engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
2020 Spring Scholarship Winner
Claire Houghton – Claire Houghton is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Houghton’s winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her video focused on her father’s Leukemia diagnosis and how it affected her family. Houghton explains how her father battled leukemia from the time she was three years old and how he recently passed away from the illness. The loss of her father was devastating for her and her family, but she was inspired by her father to always keep a smile on her face, have a positive attitude, and help others. She is majoring in nursing at the University of Delaware.
2019 Fall Scholarship Winner
Trey Sieradski – Trey is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Sieradski’s winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. His essay described his battle with Burkitt’s Lymphoma and how he was able to overcome the disease and find joy in helping other children and teens in their battle against cancer. He will be majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama.
2019 Fall Scholarship Winner
Amritpal Kaur – Amritpal is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Kaur’s winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship Committee. Her video described how her grandfather’s cancer diagnosis brought her family closer together and how she learned to always make the best out of a negative situation. She is majoring in biochemistry at California State University Bakersfield.
2019 Spring Scholarship Winner
Ricky Stafford – Ricky is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Stafford’s winning written essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship committee. His essay detailed how he found a way to focus on joy and helping others after fighting leukemia for several years. He will be majoring in education at Southern Virginia University.
2019 Spring Scholarship Winner
Shelbi Muñoz – Shelbi is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Muñoz’ winning video essay was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship committee. Her video described how she lost several loved ones to cancer and how she was able to overcome the devastating loss. She will be majoring in theater at Florida State University.
2018 Scholarship Winner
Camryn Highsmith – Camryn is the winner of the firm’s $2,500 Mesothelioma Cancer Victims Memorial Scholarship. Highsmith’s winning essay, which was selected after a competitive review by the Baron & Budd Scholarship committee, detailed the toll cancer has had on many important women in her life and also highlighted the impressive steps she has taken throughout her high school career to research breast cancer.