Cartersville Grad Wins Dream Scholarship, One Of Only 20 Nationwide

CARTERSVILLE, GA — A Cartersville High School graduate attending Mercer University is one of 20 students nationwide to be awarded a 2022 Dream Scholarship.

Anysia Boozer, a pre-med student at Mercer studying psychology, will join 19 other recipients at a dinner and awards ceremony in Washington D.C. on June 16.

The Dream Award is given to students who have “overcome challenges to fulfill their college dreams,” according to a news release from Scholarship America. Since the Dream Award program began in 2014, more than $3.2 million in scholarships have been awarded to 150 students.

Hardships faced by Dream award recipients include personal and family illnesses, poverty, neglect, learning disabilities and homelessness. Seventy percent of recipients are the first in their families to attend college, 80 percent have contributed to their families’ income, and nearly one third have served as caregivers while enrolled as students.

In Boozer’s case, she faced the loss of a father to incarceration. Boozer took on a part-time job to help support her family while playing varsity sports and volunteering to help those in need.

After she graduated from Cartersville High School with a 4.52 GPA in 2020, according to the news release, she said she “grabbed my diploma and promptly went home, loaded my Grandma’s old Honda with my clothes, a secondhand computer [and] some XL twin sheets, and headed south” to Macon and Mercer University.

Boozer said that she plans eventually to become an anesthesiologist.

Read more about the 2022 Dream Award on Scholarship America's website.