Lucas Dunn was a CSUSM student, majoring in History and minoring in French, who wanted very much to study abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France, for a year.

He was enthusiastically committed to his plan, working to save money, taking upper division French classes and meeting regularly with Professor Veronica Anover to learn everything he could about French culture prior to his trip.   

May 13th  will mark the third anniversary of  Dunn’s death.  The not quite twenty-one year old,  died when a rock face gave way beneath him as he was climbing Lily Rock in the San Jacinto Mountains in 2013.  It was two months before his departure for his year abroad.  

Those who knew Dunn liked him. He was bright, kind, hard-working and enthusiastic in his interests.  His French professor, Veronica Anover, was heartbroken by his death.

“I was so shaken and so sad about his sudden loss that I decided to try to make some sense of this very tragic loss,”  said Anover. With the consent of Dunn’s parents, Professor Anover created the Lucas Dunn Memorial Scholarship to Study Abroad.  To endow this scholarship requires a minimum of $25,000. Colleagues, students, friends, local businesses and Dunn’s family, have succeeded in raising $22,634 so far.

Professor Anover talks about Dunn’s  dreams and the memorial scholarship fund with her students.  Last year, Samuel Taylor, a French 201 student, was inspired by hearing about Dunn’s passion to follow his own dreams, when he decided to spend a year abroad in Aix, where he has been since August 2015.  

Already an enthusiastic rock climber himself, Taylor climbed Le Mont Sainte Victoire, one of the highest mountains in Aix. At the top, Taylor placed a glass coin memorializing Dunn.

He creates blown glass objects as a hobby, and the coin he carried up for Dunn is inscribed: “Lucas Dunn Made It.”  Taylor wanted Professor Anover and Dunn’s parents to know that Dunn is remembered in the climbing community both at home and in France.  
When it’s fully endowed, this scholarship honoring Dunn will help other students study abroad and pursue their own aspirations.