05 May NYO Athlete Mia Anderson Wins 2022 Worl Family Scholarship

The high school senior will attend Brown University this fall with the support of her scholarship

CITC congratulates the winner of the 2022 Worl Family Scholarship for Native Youth Olympic (NYO) Games athletes: Mia Anderson of Sitka!

“NYO has been so different than all my other experiences with sports,” Mia offered just after she was announced as this year’s scholarship recipient April 29 at NYO Games 2022. “You’re competing on your own, but you’re also with your team, and you know that your win is everyone’s win.”

Mia’s win of the scholarship, which was made possible by a generous donation from the Worl family, will also be a win for others: With the support provided by the scholarship, Mia will attend Brown University this fall, where she will major in biomedical engineering. Her dream is to design and create prosthetics for people like her own grandfather.

“I’ve always been interested in the medical field, but in the past couple years I’ve gotten more interested in engineering, specifically prosthetics,” shared Mia, a senior at Mt. Edgecumbe High School. “Then my grandfather, a couple years ago, passed away, and I feel like one of the things that could have helped him is if there was some sort of prosthetic that would have let him regain his physical abilities.”

The Worl Family Scholarship was first established in 2020 and awarded that year and in 2021, in partnership with the Eyak Corporation. The idea to award a scholarship to an NYO athlete was inspired by NYO coach and Native games athlete Kyle Worl; he thought something should be done to support and encourage NYO athletes the first year in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the 2020 Senior NYO Games were first canceled, then held virtually.

That year, the Worl family partnered with the Eyak Corporation to offer its inaugural scholarship.

This year, Kyle’s father Rod Worl, former Eyak Corporation CEO, and his wife, Dawn Dinwoodie, presented the Worl Family Scholarship to Mia on the final day of Senior NYO Games 2022. To apply for the scholarship, Mia wrote an essay about how NYO has impacted her life.

“NYO has been a great way for me to realize the importance of encouragement, sportsmanship, teamwork, and just being together,” said Mia, who attended NYO Games for the first time this year. She competed in the Seal Hop and Wrist Carry events. “I know NYO will be something I remember for a very long time.”

The scholarship, she said, will be a big help as she pursues her education. “I think the origin behind the scholarship is very important; it’s a great thing for students to have access to. I really appreciate receiving this scholarship.”

Learn more about NYO Games and the athletes who compete at the official NYO Games website. Or discover other educational opportunities for youth at citci.org/education.