A local teen had special a reason to be thankful on Thursday. 

Zyere Henderson, a 19-year-old freshman at Norfolk State University in Virginia, won the Veronica M. Sullivan Scholarship.

Students had to write an essay to compete for the $1,000 academic award.

Attorney Bert McDowell, of Bridgeport, gives the scholarship every year in memory of his grandmother, who would have turned 80 this week.

Henderson says he hopes to play professional football or go into business.