When Mary Westervelt heads to Arizona State in the fall, she’ll have the aid of a number of scholarships that she applied for throughout the year. Among them is the Ethical Athlete Award, a $3,500 scholarship given by the Better Business Bureau.

Westervelt, who starred on Sedona Red Rock High School’s girls volleyball team in the fall and the girls basketball team in the winter, was nominated by a teacher and counselor at SRRHS who felt that Westervelt’s actions were worthy of consideration for the award.

High school student athletes throughout Arizona are eligible for the award and Westervelt was chosen as a finalist to be the Ethical Champion. As a finalist, she received the first $1,000.

In early May, Westervelt was informed that she was selected for the Female Ethical Champion Award. As the Ethical Champion Award winner, Westervelt — along with Male Ethical Champion Award winner Nathaniel Thompson, a soccer player from Corona del Sol High School in Tempe — received an extra $2,500 in scholarship money.

While Westervelt earned several scholarships, she stated that the Ethical Champion Award is a special one to her.

“This scholarship means the most to me out of all of the scholarships because it is based off of helping others and doing the right thing,” she said. “That to me is way more important than any athletic or school achievement because I was able to do what is most important in life, which is to help out others.

“I am grateful that God gave me gifts in life,” Westervelt added. “And I am trying my best to share them with others to make this world a better place.”