VVHS Seniors Receive $100k Awards

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

Two VVHS seniors had their wildest dreams come true recently when they both received huge scholarships from the Frias Foundation – enough to pay for their entire four years of college.

In a special presentation held at the VVHS College and Career Center on April 11, local teens Tristin Murguia and ZoaJaynna Rich were told they would receive a total of $100,000 in scholarship money, equalling $25,000 annually for the four years of college.

In interviews with The Progress last week, both of the teens said that the scholarship award was life changing for them.
“You have no idea!” said ZoaJaynna (known by her family and peers as Zoa). “I have been smiling for the past week and I couldn’t stop. It is still so surreal!”

Zoa said that she has spent the past six months building spreadsheets trying to figure out how she would pay for college and the related expenses. She has plans to attend University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) in the fall.
“It has been really stressful working through all of that,” she said. “But this has saved my life! It took all that anxiety away from me.”

Tristin has had similar feelings about his plans to also attend UNR. “I’ve been pretty stressed!” he said. “I’ve been working in a part time job trying to save up money for it and just thinking, ‘How are we going to afford all of this?’. Then once I found this out, it has been just a blessing. It really has.”

The Frias Foundation was named for the late Las Vegas philanthropist couple Charles and Phyllis Frias. Since 2017, the trust has given more than $13.5 million to support education and youth-based causes in Southern Nevada. That includes the 2021 gift of the Mesquite Plaza Shopping Center to the Mesquite Works organization for the establishment of a new STEAM Education Center in the community – a grant valued at more than $2 million.

In an interview with The Progress last week, Frias trustee John Mowbray explained the back story to the scholarship program. He said that the intent was to match the largest scholarship handled by the Public Education Foundation, with whom Frias Trust had partnered in the scholarship.

“But we decided to be a little different,” Mowbray said. “We were not going to shoot for the A-plus students; the kids who have sailed through high school on the top of the class. Instead we wanted to target kids that had experienced some adversity outside of their control that took them off of their intended path. But through some grit, they were able to get back on that path.”

Tristin and Zoa fit that profile to a ‘T’. Both have experienced health problems in high school that had set them back in their grades.

Just before his sophomore year at VVHS, Tristin was diagnosed with a rare brain condition called Chiari malformation. It has resulted in Tristin undergoing brain surgery twice during his high school years. Each of the procedures took him out of school for extended periods of time.

“My grades really went down during those years because I wasn’t in school,” Tristin said. “I just couldn’t be there. But I have come back and I always had the goal of attending college. It is just nice to have someone like the Frias Trust to believe in me.”

Zoa also has experienced debilitating health issues that have affected her academic performance in school. In the summer of 2021, she was diagnosed with a heart block. This is a condition where the electrical impulses that control the heart muscle are disrupted and cause irregular heart rhythms. The condition limited the things she could participate in at school.
“I was on the drill team at school and I had to sit out from that,” Zoa said. “It absolutely crushed me! I felt such disappointment and like I let my team down.”

Zoa said that her drill teammates have continued to support her and involve her in the team. In fact, over the past year she has served as the team manager.
“I wasn’t dancing with my girls, but I was still with them,” Zoa said. “I was still family and it helped me because they made me feel like I was still on the team.”

Mowbray and the other Frias officials wanted to keep the award a secret to the two youngsters until the presentation was made. So the school told both Zoa and Tristin that they were finalists for the award. They both then invited to bring their parents for a final interview.

The nervous teens and their parents were ushered into the College and Career center room and sat down with about a dozen people in the room.
“Looking back on it there were so many signs to tell me that maybe it wasn’t really an interview,” said Tristin. “I heard cameras clicking and there were balloons in the room for a celebration. But I think I was just so nervous that I didn’t really notice any of that.”

Needless to say, there was no interview. After a brief presentation about the lives and generosity of Charles and Phyllis Frias, Mowbray stood and announced to the families that both Tristin and Zoa would be recipients of the award.

“At first, I thought they were messing with me,” said Zoa. “I just couldn’t breathe for a second. The Friases are literally my savior. I am so grateful for them. Without this it would be almost impossible to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish.”

“I don’t even know if there are words to describe how I feel about the Friases,” added Tristin. “They have truly changed my life. I will always be grateful to them for sure. I hope that they know that. I want to be able to carry the legacy of this gift throughout my life and career and try and keep it going.”

Tristin plans to study Financial Planning at UNR. Zoa is planning to major in Psychology and minor in Art so that she can have a career in Art Therapy.

Tristin’s parents are Robert Murguia and Alice Musser.

Zoa’s parents are Shaun and Pamela Rich.