West High School’s Olivia Pizano Awarded Dooley Scholarship

Olivia Pizano, a student at West High School, has been awarded the 2025 Dooley Scholarship. Pizano received the news she earned the $20,000 scholarship in a surprise ceremony on Friday morning, delivered by members of the Community School District Scholarship Selection Committee and school staff.

“I have always known I wanted to go into the medical field, and by receiving this scholarship, I am able to pursue my dream. I am incredibly thankful and grateful for that,” Pizano shared.

Pizano plans to attend the University of Iowa in the fall, majoring in human physiology/biology, with the goal of becoming a diagnostic radiologist. She is an active member of West High School’s National Honor Society, Leo Club, and Mentors in Violence Prevention.

The $20,000 scholarship is disbursed over a four-year period of undergraduate schoolwork. It can be used at any accredited college or university.

The scholarship, awarded annually by the Davenport Community School District Scholarship Selection Committee and the Quad Cities Community Foundation, was started in 1965 by the late Dr. Walter Neiswanger, who named it after Dr. Thomas Dooley, a physician who ran medical clinics in the mountains of Vietnam and Laos.