CHS Announces Four Winners of $40K Allen Opportunity Scholarship

Four members of the Charlottesville High School Class of 2025 are the recipients of the Elizabeth and Greg Allen Opportunity Scholarship, providing $10,000 a year for four years of college. This year’s winners are Antony Arostegui, Ciaijah Ragland, Kevohn Rush, and Olga Salama.

Elizabeth and Greg Allen of Charlottesville established this scholarship in 2022 to assist Charlottesville High School seniors, particularly prospective first generation college students, to achieve their dream of earning a college degree. The Allens hope that this program will expand opportunities for scholarship recipients to reach their personal and professional goals and make a difference for future generations and the community.

Learn more about the winners below:

Antony Arostegui
Antony was born in El Salvador and lived in Nicaragua for the first 9 years of his life. He moved to Charlottesville in 2016 and has attended CCS ever since. He has three younger siblings that he helps care for at home. In addition, Antony takes care of the family's garden including dogs, chickens, guineas and ducks. He is teaching himself to play guitar during his spare time. At school, he enjoys building rockets in Engineering class and through BACON. His top college choice is George Mason University where he would like to major in Engineering and minor in Environmental Science.

Ciaijah “Cici” Ragland
Cici is a Charlottesville native who has gone to the Charlottesville City Schools since kindergarten. She has 8 siblings including 2 younger than her. In her spare time she has enjoyed being a manager for the baseball team at CHS and working at The Party Starts Here. Her boss at work commends her work ethic and has given her more responsibility to show how much she is appreciated there. She hopes to attend UVa and study Biology. Eventually she wants to become a Physician's Assistant.

Kevohn Rush
Kevohn started playing music during his 5th grade year at Walker. He picked the Viola because it seemed like no one else was picking that instrument! Now, he plays not only in the top orchestra at CHS but also at the Music Resource Center and many local churches. He especially enjoys playing for others during the holiday season. His single mom has raised three children, all of whom have attended CCS. His brother passed away from epilepsy during Kevohn's freshman year (his brother was 12.) He shared that he has turned his grief into fuel for his dreams. He is doing this for his brother.

Olga Salama
Olga’s parents were born in the Congo, moved to Burundi before immigrating to the US in 2021. Since that time, Olga has been a member of the CHS community. She speaks 5 languages including English which she learned in a very short period of time! During her time at CHS, she has gone from newcomer ESL classes to AP and DE classes. She has 7 siblings all younger than her. She has applied to attend UVa, Penn and Vanderbilt. Her goal is to help people in her community and in the world through medicine. Watch Olga's story on CBS19 News.

Previous winners of the Allen Opportunity Scholarship:

• 2024: Zohra Aman, Myleisha April-Renee Bolden, Homa Ikhlassi, Muskon Sultan
• 2023: Robel Gabramedhin, Jesaun Johnson, Aniyah Moore, Diavian Thompson
• 2022: Karen Bernado-Zamora, Jakia Maupin, and Pray Meh