Scholarship Previous Winners

Diane Le

Our First Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Spring 2024 for $2,500 is awarded to Diane Le! In 2020, Diane lost a close family member due to family violence. She began attending therapy and learned the importance of therapists/counselors and how they can help people regain their mental health. The experience made such a tremendous impact on Diane that she is working to become a licensed professional counselor. We’re pulling for you, Diane!

Sydney Borchardt

Our Second Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Spring 2024 for $2,500 is awarded to Sydney Borchardt! At 10 years old, Sydney was diagnosed with scoliosis. To reduce her curvature she had to wear a back brace 23 hours a day, travel to Wisconsin every 6 months and did specialized scoliosis exercises and yoga everyday. She ultimately had significant spinal surgery to help her condition. Sydney started a support group called Curvy Girls, which provides other girls with similar conditions emotional support, advice, and a safe space to express themselves. The group makes gift bags and blankets for children having spinal surgery at OU Children’s. Sydney was chosen as 2021-2022 Shriners National Patient Ambassador and spent the year traveling the country. Sydney plans to become an occupational therapist and help kids that need extra support in their lives!

Sarah Doshier

Our Third Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Spring 2024 for $2,500 is awarded to McKinney High graduate, Sarah Doshier! Sarah’s dad passed away when she was ten years old, and then her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was a sophomore in high school. These hardships inspired her to grow her faith with God and overcome her challenges with mental health. Sarah attends A&M University and maintains a 4.0 GPA!

Emily Watson

Our 4th Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Spring 2024 in the amount of $2,500 is awarded to Emily Watson! At age 11, Emily’s mother suffered a very significant personal injury that restricted her ability to work and limited her ability to even be a homemaker. This meant Emily had to step up and assume a much larger responsibility around the home and helping to take care of her mother. Emily now attends Tarleton State University and studies agriculture!

Emily Knerr

Our 5th Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Spring 2024 in the amount of $2,500 is awarded to Emily Knerr! At 6 years old Emily was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer, with a 96% mortality rate. She received significant treatment and initially overcame the cancer. Just before her 13th birthday, she relapsed. For a third time at age 18, while she was getting ready to leave home to attend the University of Alabama, doctors found another tumor. Emily has undergone 7 abdominal surgeries. She is now a Junior at the University of Alabama, where she is studying to become a Child Life Specialist!

Rose Duncan

Our Friends of the Firm Scholarship Recipient for Spring 2024 in the amount of $1,000 is awarded to Rose Duncan! Rose is the daughter of Matt Duncan, Burress Law’s original banker between 2008-2012. To this day, Matt assists the firm from time to time as an Executive Vice President of Independent Financial. Matt’s very talented daughter, Rose, has been a friend of the firm for many years and typically sits next to Matt and Jason at SMU Football games. Rose is a graduate of Trinity Christian Academy and is a Freshman at SMU. Additionally, Rose is an amazing artist!

Adem Byrdsell

Our First Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Fall 2023 for $2,500 is awarded to Adem Byrdsell! In 2021, Adem was involved in a major crash and suffered a traumatic brain injury, C5 spinal fracture, bruised lungs, fractured sternum, and fractured ribs. After the accident, Byrdsell wanted to help underprivileged teens who play sports where he grew up in Liberia. He created "Byrd Basketball Foundation", which is a non-profit organization. In 2022, the Foundation fully sponsored a basketball camp for underprivileged youth in Liberia. The accident inspired him to study Kinesiology at the College of Charleston, and he plans to become a Sports Medicine Doctor!

Presley Hazelwood

Our Second Fall 2023 Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for $2,500 is awarded to McKinney's own, Presley Hazelwood! Presley was born with Arthrogryposis, which affects her feet, legs, and hip. She has endured 10 surgeries, has 9 screws in her hip, and wears ankle/foot orthotics. As a result of receiving such involved, quality medical care, it became important for Presley to help others. She and her parents have hosted an annual golf tournament for years to share Presley's story and raise money for Scottish Rite, the children's hospital that provided her medical care. One of Presley's goals is to become a pediatric nurse and help kids just like her.

Sarah Skinner

At age 11, Sarah was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia which isolated her from all the things she loved such as friends, school, sports, and church. Although she had to endure incredible hurdles at such a young age, she has made the very best of her circumstances while maintaining a positive attitude. Sarah’s life-changing diagnosis and the quality of medical care she received led her to want to become a nurse. She hopes to build a welcoming environment for patients just as her nurses created for her!

Abigail Klein

Our Fourth Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Fall 2023 for $2,500 is awarded to Abigail Klein! Abigail has persevered through and overcome challenges related to mental health. She is planning to become a therapist through her studies at the University of North Texas to improve the mental health of others.

Erickson Mathieu, Kate Hines and Ainsley Mathieu

Congratulations to Erickson Mathieu, Kate Hines and Ainsley Mathieu, who are our 3 Burress Injury Law Friends of the Firm scholarship recipients for Fall 2023. Our Friends of the Firm scholarships are $1,000 each!

Ciera Hecht

Our fall scholarship round featured many outstanding applicants, so much so, we created two $1,000.00 Friends of the Firm scholarships. We are honored to name Ciera Hecht as one of our scholarship recipients. As a senior in high school, Ciera played in the 5A state championship volleyball game for Prosper. During the semi-finals, Ciera suffered a broken wrist. Sitting on the sidelines, she could see that her team needed her. Having wrapped her wrist, she asked her coach to put her back in the lineup. With Ciera’s help, her team won their final games and became State Champs! Ciera was also named MVP of the State Tournament. Her commitment and perseverance are why we have chosen Ciera to receive this scholarship. Ciera is now a senior and plays for Texas A&M as an outside hitter. Whoop!

Laney Bice

Our second Friends of the Firm scholarship recipient endured a silent battle, including injuries from a car crash that occurred when she was 15 years old. Burress Injury Law successfully tried Laney’s case last fall. Laney is doing great and just left home for Stephen F. Austin. She plans to become a nurse!

Cassidy Habel

Our First Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Fall 2022 in the amount of $2,500.00 is awarded to Cassidy Habel! Cassidy earned one of our four inaugural Spring 2022 scholarships. During that semester, she earned Dean’s List honors at Texas Tech University (Guns up!). This summer, she served on the firm’s scholarship committee and did a great job. Because she made the Dean’s List this spring and her continued ties with our firm, we are proud to support Cassidy with a second scholarship!

Nathan Eller

Our Second Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Fall 2022 in the amount of $2,500.00 is awarded to Nathan Eller! As a high school student, Nathan’s dream was to play college football and violin. During his junior year, however, doctors discovered a cancerous mass in his chest. Although his plans were changed, Nathan is a healthy cancer survivor and is grateful for his journey. Because of his experience, he is studying at Seattle University to become an ultrasound technologist to help others.

Kinja Bagalwa

Our third Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Fall 2022 in the amount of $2,500.00 is awarded to Kinja Bagalwa. Kinja is a University of Buffalo student who originally came to the U.S. as a Refugee from D.R. Congo. She has successfully dealt with a lifelong speech impediment about which she was teased growing up. She has turned her tough experience into a strength and now passionately helps others who face similar challenges.

Alice Skiff

Our 4th Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship for Fall 2022 in the amount of $2,500.00 is awarded to Alice Skiff, a University of Maine at Farmington student. Alice was diagnosed with brain cancer (medulloblastoma brain tumor under her cerebellum) as a 12 year old child, for which she underwent emergency brain surgery.

Alice endured tremendous challenges and side effects from the cancer and surgery that left her with significant side effects including trouble walking, talking, and even eating. Through years of courageous perseverance, Alice is now able to walk, run, and even sing. She continues to view her life as “after-cancer” and strives to live her life to the fullest each day. Alice plans to major in Special Education.

$5,000 Scholarship Award

Our 3rd Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship in the amount of $5,000.00 will be awarded to Kelan Lawson, a student who recently transferred from Arkansas to Texas Tech. Kelan is a Texas boy and the very embodiment of an underdog who works hard every day to overcome adversity. Kelan was born with Cerebral Palsy and was never supposed to walk or talk, but he has surprised everyone (but his Mother). Moreover, he has one of the best attitudes of anyone we have ever met. To quote Kelan, “I do the absolute best that I can with what I have; I won’t accept anymore or take any less.” Go out west young man and Wreck‘em Tech!

$2,500 Scholarship Award

We are honored to award our 2nd Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship in the amount of $2,500.00 to Texas Tech student, Cassidy Habel. Cassidy’s essay details her struggle after enduring serious injuries from being struck by a motorcycle. Cassidy showed tremendous perseverance in overcoming her injuries in addition to an autoimmune disorder and is thriving at Texas Tech.

$2,500 Scholarship Award

We are proud to award our very first Burress Injury Law Underdog Scholarship in the amount of $2,500.00 to Connor Phillip Tompkins. Out of more than 200 applicants, Connor was the only student attending medical school. He is following in the footsteps of his Grandfather, a physician who spoke 4 languages. If you read his winning essay, Connor describes a situation he was in where his real-world Spanish skills were not good enough despite his formal education, and what he did to overcome his deficit. We are very proud of Connor and wish him the very best as he continues his medical training at Baylor College of Medicine.