PBAGA Scholarship Recipient Adara Veiga

Jan 24, 2024

By Cindy Baugher

Adara Veiga, scholarship recipient for the Georgia Division of the PBA and a Foundation Scholarship recipient, is eloquent when describing her feelings about being selected for the honor.  “Receiving this scholarship feels like the time of year when the weather changes from 85° to 65-75° overnight.  It’s the most relaxing feeling knowing my hard work can be recognized year after year.  Everyone who knows how hard I work in school knows how grateful I’ve been to this foundation for three years now. Foundations like this and scholarships like these take enough weight off of me so that I can make time to work, buy books I normally couldn’t afford, and pay for part of my tuition.  I cannot express how much gratitude I have for this foundation.  I’ll never stop working in school to earn it and make this foundation proud.”

Adara exemplifies what one would expect a scholarship winner to be.  Earning extraordinary grades was just her norm in her academic work in both high school and college, and so too was her involvement with many extracurricular activities and sports teams. She has logged extensive hours of volunteer work for various charities and worthy causes. Currently she works two part time jobs, but during the fall semester of 2022, she actually juggled five different part time jobs to help put herself through school, all while maintaining a GPA over 3.5 and earning herself a place on the President’s List. It is obvious that she sets and meets high expectations for herself.

Jacksonville State University in Alabama has been Adara’s home away from home since 2019, after graduating from Cartersville High School in Georgia in May of that same year.  She chose JSU because she wanted to be somewhere that “felt like home, but also like a fresh start, all at the same time.”

Adara is majoring in pre-health professional biology.  She decided on this major after originally trying out nursing because of her innate desire to help people. She is hopeful that God has now placed her in the right specialty because she says she feels “at home in healthcare.” Her plans are to become a medical assistant after college (or very soon) to gain some real life, practical experience in the field and learn as much as she can. Once she’s completed her bachelor’s degree, she is planning on going to PA school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to eventually become a PA in neurology or pediatric oncology.

Adara credits her father, Daniel Veiga, as being both her favorite leader and the greatest influence in her life. She says, “He taught me that you can have everything you want in life when you work hard and stay grounded when you have nothing. He found a way to take care of my little brother, older sister, and me when he only worked for the Cartersville Police Department.  He has always been my best friend and my hero.  I recently got a tattoo of his handwriting that says, ‘Adara, I love you way more!’ which he’s said for as long as I can remember because he knows he’ll always love me more.  He’s the best dad/mother figure/friend I could ever ask for.  I owe every ounce of my drive, ambition, and perseverance to my dad.”  Daniel works full time as a senior corporate security specialist for Georgia Power/Southern Company and part time for the Kingston, Georgia Police Department. It is his role as a police officer and his membership in the PBA which enabled Adara to apply for the PBF scholarships. She points out that when we are children, your dad is the guy who protects you no matter what. “When I was little, and even now, I always knew I’d be safe because if my dad is willing to lay his life down for an entire city, that he doesn’t know, he’d stop the world to keep me safe.  I’ll never have to ask myself who my hero is, and I know he’s been that figure to other people in this world, too.”

Adara and her father, Daniel Veiga

Her father has always been an outstanding role model for Adara, and it has clearly made an impact on her and encouraged her to share her time and talents as well. When he’s not busy with his full-time position at Georgia Power, or with his part time role with the Kingston Police Department, her father assists in running an intervention program for Bartow County (GA) area minors called Youth Against Violence and Drugs.  This initiative is dedicated to offering classes and mentors for troubled youth to assist with life lessons and character building. Likewise, Adara freely gives her time with her tutoring skills and networking assistance in college and calls Shop with a Cop (for less fortunate families at Christmas time each year in her hometown) her favorite volunteer event.  Being involved and busy seems to be the norm for Adara’s family.  Her stepmom is a former teacher at Cartersville High School who now works at Georgia Power as a power systems coordinator.  Her older sister, Arriana, is in the US Army and her younger brother, Danny, recently completed elite lineman school and is employed by Pike Electric.

Now that she’s deep into her college coursework, Adara says, “I don’t have an ample amount of free time, however, being as busy as I am, it makes any amount of free time that much better.  I hang out with my boyfriend, play golf, discover new coffee shops, plan and go on day trips, and try new things.”  She also enjoys reading and watching football and calls herself a “die-hard Dolphins and Ravens fan.”

Summing up her thoughts on being awarded the PBF scholarships, Adara relates, “I’d just like to thank the entire foundation for taking a chance on a Cartersville/Jacksonville kid like me. You guys help me chase every dream I’ve had since the first time I played with my mom’s stethoscope and played pretend doctor with my sister growing up.  Thank you for believing in me and taking the chance on giving me scholarships.  You make all the difference in this journey!” 

Adara Veiga with her dad as Jeremy May, PBA of GA Regional Director,
presents her scholarship check.