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How the Utah Jazz Scholarship program is helping students seek higher education

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How the Utah Jazz Scholarship program is helping students seek higher education


SALT LAKE CITY — The path to higher education looks different for everyone. Wil Thomas went to high school at Timpanogos High, where he played baseball, and Janet Lopez was a Student Body Officer at Taylorsville High, but both knew higher education was a step they wanted to take.

“It was kind of something that was always pushed on me from my mom since I was young,” Lopez said.

“The way I see education is it is something that will help me get further,” Thomas affirmed.

As high school upperclassmen, both were thinking about the stress and pressures that come with college — including the financial stress. Then they heard about the Utah Jazz Scholarship Program.

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The program provided a four-year full cost of attendance scholarship to 114 Utah high school students — one for every Jazz win from the 2020/21 and 2021/22 NBA seasons. 100% of the recipients are from an underrepresented group.

Wil applied as the class of 2021, Janet as the class of 2022 — at first, they didn’t know their chances, then they were called for a second interview. “The screen goes on in the locker-room and we’re just watching the video, and then Donovan Mitchell was the one that said, ‘Congratulations, all of you guys have gotten the Utah Jazz scholarship,’ and tears just started coming out of my eyes,” Lopez remembered.

“I was really nervous about that second interview, then I got a FaceTime from Royce O’Neal, and then he told me I actually got the scholarship,” Thomas recalled.

Thomas is now finishing up his senior year at Utah Valley University, and Janet is a junior at the University of Utah.

“You’re starting this chain of like future students, future cousins, family members, friends that are going to want to pursue college because you’re in that position and they know it’s possible,” Lopez said.

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The financial aspect of the scholarship has been life-changing, but so has the additional mentorship, support, and networking the Jazz organization has provided. “The amount of connections that I’ve made is unbelievable, and I don’t think I would have made them without the scholarship,” Thomas said.

Of course, there are also some fun perks of being a Jazz scholar — like going to the games. “I remember the first time they gave us dinner and everything like that, my dad was like a little kid, like woah this is so cool,” Lopez said.

Two Utah Jazz scholars have already graduated, 15 are part of the class of 2025, 40 are expected to graduate next year, and 50 in 2027 and beyond.

Wil and Janet’s stories are just two examples of what happens when hard work meets incredible opportunity. “If it’s going to happen it’s going to happen, but also it doesn’t just happen by itself you have to put in the work and effort to actually get it to happen,” Lopez said.





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Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president

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Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president


Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.



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Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods

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Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods


BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.

After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.

Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.

“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.

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An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.

Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.





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Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months

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Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months


EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.

Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.

Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.

“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”

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When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.

An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.

In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.

Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.

Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.

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In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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