Asia Cottom was one of the youngest people killed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. She was 11 years old and on a trip she won in an essay contest when she boarded American Flight 77, the plane terrorists flew into the Pentagon.
Her parents, Michelle and Clifton Cottom, honored her love of learning and her dream of going to college by starting the Asia Sivon Memorial Scholarship Fund. Through the fund, the Cottoms have donated more than $260,000 to nearly 100 students to help them afford college, and, by proxy, sending Asia to college too. Scholarship recipients reflect Asia’s love of math, technology, and science.
“For me to watch students grow was my way of being able to send Asia to college. Over and over and over again,” Michelle Cottom told reporter Andie Judson of WLTX. “Through the foundation is how we healed a little bit too.
