CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Northeast Ohio family is hoping to honor their son’s memory by helping others achieve the dream he wasn’t able to fulfill.
On Thursday, the Davion Flanagan Memorial Fund awarded four scholarships to students at the Allstate Hairstyling and Barber College.
“The grief doesn’t go away. We’re just choosing a way to grow around it and keep him with us in the meantime,” said Jaime Flanagan, Davion’s mother.
It’s the second round of scholarships in honor of her son.
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Davion dreamed of running his own barber shop and was in the process of applying to Allstate when his life was cut short.
The 19-year-old and his friend, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, died in a car crash in July 2022.
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The driver, Russo’s 17-year-old girlfriend, was convicted of murder for crashing the car purposely.
She was given two concurrent life sentences, with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
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Through the pain of losing their son, the Flanagans wanted to create a positive legacy.
The family said they saw an outpouring of support for the scholarship fund after attention from a Netflix documentary highlighting the fatal crash.
The funds raised from donations from around the world helped them award four scholarships this year.
The recipients said they plan to honor Davion’s memory.
“We’re very appreciative for the opportunity, for being selected and to be able to move his message forward, represent his family and him with the same passion he had for barbering,” said student Giovanni Alarcon.
