HOUSTON – KPRC 2 and American Furniture Warehouse are surprising 20 deserving high school seniors with $2,500 scholarships in 2025. All students selected for scholarships have been nominated by their high schools.
Tanisha Parikh, a senior at Katy High School, is this week’s KPRC 2-American Furniture Warehouse Senior Scholarship winner. Katy High School is part of the Katy Independent School District.
Parikh is an academic all-star, ranking fifth in her class of 791 students. She has been active for all four years of high school in Student Council and currently serves as Vice President for the Class of 2025.
She founded her school’s chapter of the Science National Honor Society, which helps promote science events and encourage younger students to participate in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) activities.
Parikh cares deeply about children’s mental health. She volunteers with the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) and has volunteered with Memorial Hermann at their hospitals over multiple summers.
Project Loved is a nonprofit Parikh founded to support children facing mental health struggles. Through her nonprofit, Parikh reaches students and offers words of encouragement to them through handwritten cards, support meetings, and through online outreach.
Parikh tells KPRC 2, “What began as handwritten letters to mentally ill children has grown into a safe space - filled with crisis hotlines, blog posts and community discussions - that has reached over 100 young people in need.” She continues, “One letter. One moment of kindness. That’s all it takes to remind someone they are not alone.”
Parikh studied abroad in South Korea for 13 weeks and actively volunteered with the Korean Kids and Orphanage Outreach Mission.
Parikh plans to study Biochemistry in college with the goal of working in psychiatry to further her mission of helping children improve their mental health.
You can see the scholarship surprise for Tanisha Parikh in the video player at the top of this article.