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As college students return to campus for another semester, Louisville Water is catching up with a special group of academic achievers: past winners of the company’s Thomas Family Scholarship.
Named after the first black employees on Louisville Water’s payroll in 1872, the Thomas Family Scholarship was created in 2021 in partnership with the Chestnut Street YMCA Black Achievers Program.
The scholarship was originally $10,000 but has since increased to $15,000.
Caden Gunn was the inaugural winner
of the scholarship in 2021 when he was a senior at Doss High School.
Five years later, he’s now a graduate of Bellarmine University.
“I graduated in May 2025. I earned a bachelor’s degree in digital art and design, and arts and technology,” Gunn said.
While studying at Bellarmine, Gunn worked as a graphic design intern in the university’s marketing department.
One month after graduation, he landed a position with Jefferson County Public Schools.
“I recently completed my contract as a marketing assistant with JCPS, which concluded at the end of June due to district budget constraints. I am currently actively searching for my next opportunity,” he said.
The second winner of the scholarship, Destiny Iyun, is a biology major at Berea College. She was a senior at Central High School when she won the award in 2022.
During her time at Berea, Iyun was accepted into a summer internship at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.
She is expected to graduate from Berea in the fall.
Erik Ballard won the scholarship in 2023
when he was a senior at duPont Manual High School. He’s now entering his senior year at the University of Kentucky.
“My major is economics, but at the time of receiving the Thomas Family Scholarship I was interested in studying engineering. However, once I got to college I switched to economics,” Ballard said.
On campus, he works in the career center as a student assistant. He also recently completed two internships.
“Last year, I interned at a hedge fund named Adage Capital Management where I learned the equity research process under a portfolio manager,” he said. “I finished my second internship at Royal Bank of Canada Global Asset Management, where my official title was distribution intern.”
Ballard is expected to graduate from UK in May 2027.
The fourth winner of the scholarship was Ballard High School alum Cionna Wilson in 2024.
Wilson also attends the University of Kentucky where she’s entering her junior year at the Pigman College of Engineering as a computer science major.
In her two years at UK she’s made the dean’s list twice. The honor requires students to earn a minimum 3.6 GPA or better.
Wilson is expected to graduate from UK in 2028.
Anaya Coleman won the scholarship in 2025 and just wrapped up her freshman year majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Louisville.
The Central High School alum will be a sophomore at the Speed School of Engineering this year.
She made the dean’s list last fall.
This year’s winner, South Oldham County High School graduate Quincy Barnett, is a freshman mechanical engineering major at Morehead State University.
