For Immediate Release: August 9, 2022
For more information contact:
Kelly Cannon
Kelly.Cannon@BlueKC.com
O: (816) 395-3711
KANSAS CITY, MO. (August 9, 2022)—Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) is proud to announce recent high school graduate Avery Baker as the recipient of this year’s Blue KC Scholarship in Honor of Danette K. Wilson.
Baker, a four-year Gold Level Honor Roll student, graduated from Maryville (Mo.) High School in May with an impressive 4.07 GPA. In addition, Baker was president of the school’s National Honors Society chapter and was selected as Maryville High School’s Most Outstanding Senior Female for the Class of ‘22 based on academics, leadership, and character. In addition to her outstanding academic achievements, Baker excelled in athletics. A two-year captain on the volleyball team, she earned the Heart Award, which is awarded to a player who demonstrates good sportsmanship and leadership on and off the court.
Baker’s teachers describe her as a born leader, mentor and friend and a student with a tenacious desire to learn, excel and grow. Baker plans to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study biological sciences, with the goal of becoming a pediatric specialist in oncology or cardiology.
“We are delighted to award Avery Baker the 2022 Blue KC Scholarship in Honor of Danette K. Wilson and we wish her well as she begins her college career,” said Erin Stucky, who succeeded Wilson as Blue KC’s President and Chief Executive Officer in 2019. “Avery is an exceptional and impressive young woman who is the perfect candidate to further Danette’s legacy and pride for her alma mater.”
Blue KC partners with the Nebraska Alumni Club of Kansas City, Inc. to award the $10,000 Blue KC Scholarship in Honor of Danette K. Wilson to an incoming freshman pursuing a business or healthcare degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Wilson, Blue KC's first woman President and Chief Executive Officer, is a devoted alumna of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Upon her retirement in 2019, Blue KC established the scholarship in her name to support the next generation of women leaders at the university.
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri and the only not-for-profit commercial health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City provides health coverage services to more than one million residents in the greater Kansas City area, including Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and 30 counties in Northwest Missouri. Our mission: to provide affordable access to healthcare and to improve the health of our members. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information on the company, visit its website at BlueKC.com.