24 NoVA High School Grads Awarded $32K In Scholarships

HERNDON, VA — Twenty-four gradates from five Northern Virginia high schools received $32,000 in college scholarships from The Closet of the Greater Herndon Area, according to a release.

"We are so proud of these youth and their families," Closet Board President Gene Wiley said, in the release. "Despite revenues being off during this past pandemic year, The Closet Board of Directors made scholarships a priority. We are happy to continue supporting this important educational need in our community.”

The Closet awarded scholarships to the following students:

Herndon High School: Nouran Alim, Gracia Bryan, Sarai Guzman, Semhar Habte-Mariam, Julia Mamoud, Kayla Martinez, and Liam Owens

Mountain View High School: Kunming Chen, Marwa Mohammadi, and Jorly Perez

Oakton High School: Sara Razavi and Kevina Wang

Park View High School: Michelle Ataucusi-Montes, Mary Dulaney, Andres Espinoza, Theresa Le, Fahima Mysha, Britney Orellana-Ochoa, Natalie Ramires, and Jeffrey Zapata

South Lakes High School: Ayesha Abdulahi, Lisbeth Guevara, Virag Ellen Murphy, Nathan Wojciechowski

The Closet is a nonprofit thrift store located at 845 Station S. in Herndon. It began awarding annual college scholarships to local graduates in 1974. Since then, it has handed out more than $500,000 in scholarships to more than 500 students. During that time, it also provided almost $3 million in direct cash payments to area public service organizations.