‘KEEP HER MEMORY ALIVE’
Scholarship in memory of teen who took her own life
The family of the 16-yearold Lowell girl who took her own life after being bullied has started a scholarship to “spread kindness everywhere and keep her memory alive.”
More than four years after Anna Aslanian died a few days following her 16th birthday party, the Lowell family has set up the Anna Aslanian Memorial Scholarship fund.
Her mother, Itea, told the Herald that the family wants to honor her daughter’s memory by helping students pursue their passions after they graduate high school.
“Anna was so full of life and love, always walking around smiling and always giving to other people,” Itea said this week. “We want to continue that, and spread kindness everywhere and keep her memory alive.
“Even though she’s not here, this will be a constant reminder that this is what she stood for — bringing positivity and kindness and support,” the mother added.
The Lowell High School sophomore had hidden the extent of the bullying she was experiencing. Her parents learned about it in a letter after she died. She was beaten down and had no self-esteem left, Anna wrote.
Ever since the tragedy happened during the fall of 2018, the community has given so much to the Aslanian family, Itea emphasized.
“The outpouring of support…” Itea said, trailing off. “I cry just thinking about it. I don’t know where we would be without the support of our community.
“Every time I turned around, someone was reaching out to me and offering to share Anna’s story,” she added. “It’s brought a lot of awareness to mental health, which really wasn’t talked about as much as it should have been four years ago.”
After all that community support, the family wanted to give back, leading to this scholarship.
While Anna attended Lowell High School, her family decided to set up the scholarship at Greater Lowell Technical High School in Tyngsboro — where Anna’s three brothers attend school.
Greater Lowell Tech offers both college paths and hands-on career paths, including a cosmetology program, which was a major interest for the 16-year-old girl.
“Anna was crazy over cosmetics, and she wanted to go to college in New York and pursue something with makeup,” Itea said. “She loved it. She was really great at it.”
With the scholarship, the family wants to help students who are in need and give them a supportive push after high school.
The initial goal is raising close to $5,000 in the first year, which might go to one student or could get split in two for a couple students.
“We could give half of the fund to one student with a collegiate path and half to a student with a career path, who might be starting their own business,” Itea said. “If we could raise that, it’d be a really good place for us to start, and hopefully we can continue to grow it every year.”
Those who would like to donate to the Anna Aslanian Memorial Scholarship fund are asked to make checks out to GL Tech and mail them to GL Tech, ATTN: Denise Dupont (in memory of Anna Aslanian), 250 Pawtucket Blvd., Tyngsboro, MA 01879.