A recent Avon Grove High School graduate has been named a three-time Carson Scholar, a nationwide designation honoring his academic and humanitarian achievements.

Avinash Thakur, 17, was honored May 19 at an awards banquet in Maryland where he met Dr. Ben and Candy Carson, as well as baseball great Cal Ripken. It is Thakur’s third year as a Carson Scholar, for which he was first nominated in his sophomore year by the Avon Grove principal.

“I’m very honored to have received the Carson scholarship and to have represented my school for this award,” Thakur said. “It represents all my involvement in my community and my passion for community service. It feels really special to me.”

The Carson Scholars Fund was founded by Dr. Ben and Candy Carson in 1994 and honors students in grades 4-11 “who have embraced high levels of academic excellence and community service,” according to its website (carsonscholars.org). Carson Scholars are invited to reapply. Applicants must have at least a 3.75 GPA.

Thakur, who graduated second in his senior class, had a weighted GPA of 5.011, a heavy courseload in school including 16 AP classes, and a history of community volunteerism at places like the Avon Grove Library, the Garage Youth Center, and Future Business Leaders of America.

"Serving others brings a joy on my face," Thakur said in a press release. "Seeing the positive impact I can leave on my fellow peers and within my community encourages me to continue volunteering my time."

He began volunteering with the Avon Grove Library in his freshman year, when the COVID shutdown was still in force. Thakur helped write letters to kids in the community and has also been awarded the Gold Presidential Volunteer Service Award for his outstanding volunteerism.

When the library reopened, Thakur became a member of the library’s Teen Advisory Board and helped to plan coding classes for young kids. 

He also volunteered at The Garage Youth Center’s location in West Grove and Avondale beginning from his freshman year, where he began helping another student with math.

“I kind of just saw how the other student was really grateful for me helping them, and that literally motivated me to continue staying there,” he said in an interview. “When I first walked in at The Garage – I didn’t know if this was going to be a volunteering position that I’m doing just for a little bit. But actually I ended up loving it.”

He helped students from middle and high school with math and reading and would often see some of them in the halls during the school year. “It’s really special, because I didn’t know some of them before being at The Garage … They know me not just as a tutor but as one of them.”

Thakur has volunteered more than 200 hours at The Garage, and countless other hours through the Future Business Leaders of America where has been the president of his local chapter, the regional president for the area, and vice president at large for Pennsylvania. He also served on the national FBLA level as membership and resources director for the Eastern Region, representing more than 39,000 members. He was Avon Grove High School’s first FBLA region officer and first state officer.

“That’s been a very big honor for me to serve on the council and make different programs and initiatives for members across all the state chapters,” Thakur said of FBLA, which is an organization that helps students “to become community-minded business leaders in a global society through relevant career preparation and leadership experiences.”

He also created a local chapter of Love For Our Elders, which he describes as a nationwide nonprofit “that seeks to combat isolation and loneliness in senior communities through letter writing.”

Thakur said his widowed grandfather was inspiration for him to get involved.

“I visit him every so often, and I really see how on each of our visits he’s very delighted … I can see the true inner joy,” he said.

He would write letters to the seniors featured on the Love For Our Elders website, whether they were from Montana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, or elsewhere.

“They come with a short little paragraph from the person who nominated them,” Thakur said, adding that the letters those seniors receive from around the country are a chance to “bridge the gap” and also to “show that they’re loved, and you appreciate them even if you don’t know them personally.”

Thakur started a Love For Our Elders Chapter at Avon Grove that has since grown to more than 65 students.

Now that high school is finished, Thakur is turning his attention to the next step in his journey – college at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He said he is looking forward to exploring the different concentrations in the business field that they offer, and is interested in becoming a certified financial planner.

That field, he said, would allow him to continue his passion of helping other people.

“I feel like if you can learn a subject like that, and then use it to help other people … I actually kind of see it pretty similar to what I do as a volunteer, and specifically as a peer tutor,” he said. “That’s something I’m personally passionate about, sharing what I know with other people.”