Tweet

Attention all high school seniors, there is a $1,000 scholarship through the Maverick Baker Foundation. They will be awarding a total of 5 scholarships this year.

The criteria is as follows:

• Must be a multi-sport athlete or involved in multiple extracarricular activities in school.
• List where you plan to further your education and what attracted you to that institution and why. It can be a 2 year, 4 year, or trade school.
• Lastly, you must write an essay on “What it is to be a good teammate or friend and how you will continue to display this character throughout your life, what you have done to help someone throughout their life.”

The deadline is May 12th 2023. Submit to the Maverick Mission email: [email protected]

You can learn more about Maverick and the scholarship at the organization’s website.

Background

Maverick Baker was a young man with a bright future ahead of him.  With an inviting personality and amazing athleticism, Maverick excelled in three sports including baseball and football at Northern Cambria High School, and hockey at Bishop McCort High School, as well as for the Johnstown Warriors.

Unfortuately, Maverick took his own life on February 11, 2022.

Maverick’s family was stunned.  “He had a bright smile that would light up a room. We didn’t know,” said Maverick’s father Justin in an interview with the BluePrint one year ago.

Not even Maverick’s stepfather, whom Justin said was a mental health professional, had an inkling of how troubled the 16-year old boy was.

“I want awareness,” said Justin, who graduated from Glendale High School before becoming a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. He resides in Riggles Gap. “I think there’s such a stigma attached to suicide. And it you do reach out for help, you don’t get a person (on the other end of helpline-type phone calls).”

In the aftermath, the Baker family decided that Maverick Baker’s name would live on, determined to start a scholarship and foundation in Maverick’s honor.

Justin stated that he wishes the scholarship to be a significant amount and that it would be rewarded to individuals who show the same positive qualities that his son lived by.