Alta Vista Students Awarded Hopkins Scholarships

On Wednesday, May 21, two Kansas City students received scholarships established by Rockhurst University students in memory of a local high-school student killed by gunfire while walking home near 54th Street and Lydia Avenue in December 2009.

The announcement of Misael Fraire and Brandon Esteban as the recipients of scholarships from the Nelson E. Hopkins Jr. Scholarship Fundcame came during this year’s Family Dinner at Alta Vista Charter School. Fraire is planning to attend Metropolitan Community College to study engineering. Esteban plans to enter the seminary in the hopes of becoming a priest.

Stunned by the senselessness of the crime that took the life of outstanding Alta Vista Charter School student Nelson E. Hopkins Jr., members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority at Rockhurst organized a scholarship fund in Nelson’s name for high-school students at the Kansas City, Mo., school.

Since 2010, members of Pi Kappa Alpha and Alpha Sigma Alpha have organized the Hopkins Skip and Run 5k to raise money for the Nelson E. Hopkins Jr. Scholarship Fund, an event that has been voted the best race of its size by the Kansas City Sports Commission for two years.