Keith Bolton memorial scholarship helps Amargosa student start college
A $1,000 memorial scholarship is helping Amargosa Valley’s Clara Raetz start Great Basin College, cutting one of the biggest barriers facing rural Nye County students.
A $1,000 memorial scholarship is helping Amargosa Valley’s Clara Raetz start Great Basin College.
The award, created in memory of Robert “Keith” Bolton Jr., lets Raetz move from Beatty High School to college after she graduated as valedictorian and already completed dual-credit classes. Joelle Bolton, owner and operator of The Wine Down, established the Keith Bolton Memorial Scholarship after her husband died on Dec. 14, 2024, at age 59. His obituary listed his birth date as Sept. 23, 1965. Bolton built the fund with support from a Paris in Pahrump fundraiser and donations from customers.
Great Basin College selected Raetz from a pool of applicants through a committee review, and she received the first scholarship award. Tiffany Ross, a GBC student recruiter, said the fit carried special meaning because Keith Bolton had worked in the vineyards around Amargosa Valley and the scholarship was designed to honor the ties he had there. Raetz is now using the scholarship and other aid to begin pursuing an associate degree at Great Basin College.
Great Basin College’s dual credit program lets high school students take real college courses while still in high school, earning both high school and college credit at the same time. Its dual-credit agreements include Nye County students, and scholarships can reduce or eliminate education debt. Great Basin College serves rural Nevada through campuses in Elko, Winnemucca, Ely and Pahrump, and its Pahrump Valley Center reaches nearby communities including Dyer, Gabbs, Goldfield, Round Mountain, Silver Peak and Tonopah.
The U.S. Census Bureau counted 51,591 residents in Nye County in 2020, with 44,738 living in Pahrump alone.
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