Better Business Bureau Serving the Pacific Southwest awarded five scholarships to high school students for their winning essays on “The Importance of Character and Ethics.”

The annual contest encourages students to share a personal experience about doing the right thing when they face an ethical dilemma.

2023 Ethical Torch Essay scholarship winners:

• First Place of $1,500: Mollie Taylor, senior, from Lee Williams High School in Kingman
• Second Place of $1,250: Arv Jain, freshman, from BASIS Peoria
• Third Place of $1,000: Adele Marie Torrington, senior, from Arizona School for the Arts in Phoenix
• Fourth Place of $750: Natalie Brunansky, senior, from Aletheia Christian Academy in Glendale
• Fifth Place of $500: Orion Chaturvedi, freshman, from Maricopa High School in Maricopa

First place winner Mollie Taylor shared how she let ethics help guide her action of reporting students who were vaping in the gym locker room on the school campus to the administration.

“Though I feared retaliation, I informed the assistant principal. I kept second guessing my decision, but right is right,” she shared in a press release. “Many of my classmates stepped up and confronted the girls, reminding them I had done nothing wrong. It made me realize that my ethical decision positively impacted others around me, and all it takes is one person to lead by example.”

Visit torchessay.bbbcommunity.org to learn more about the Ethical Torch Essay Scholarship program and to read the full winning essays.

Applications for next year’s scholarship will open on Monday, Jan. 1.