Hopkinton High Schooler Luke Scanlon is not your “typical” senior. 

Like many of his friends and classmates, he is kind, thoughtful and smart. What distinguishes Scanlon, however, is the journey over the past three years that has helped shape him into the young man he is today.  

Tenacity comes to mind when talking with Scanlon. Having faced family tragedy by enduring the loss of his mother during his sophomore year, Scanlon persevered by continuing to be an active part of the community and earning himself a spot on the honor roll in his final two years in school. 

(Scanlon is also a frequent contributor to HopNews).

An entrepreneurial flame was lit in the Spring of last year. “I was grilling a steak one night when it caught on fire.  I was upset that my dinner was ruined because our grill was never cleaned, and realized this probably happens to a lot of people.  That’s when I thought, maybe I could turn this into a business,” he said.  

Scanlon enlisted his good friend, Nick Dieter, and together they launched Glistening Grill Cleaners.  The duo found immediate success cleaning grills throughout town and surrounding communities.  The high quality of their work was apparent with several customers calling them back for an end of season cleaning.

Things were finally going his way but Scanlon felt he needed to do more. “I had a really hard time during COVID watching my mom fight cancer.  It was tough.  I know a lot of other kids struggled too.”  Scanlon and Dieter decided they wanted to do something to help reduce the stigma of asking for mental health support, so they decided to donate 15% of their profits to the Hopkinton based Mental Health Collaborative.  The two also reached out to local businesses to ask for matching contributions.  “Mental health affects so many people”, said Dieter.  “We wanted to get other business owners involved as well. 

“The mission of the MHC is to build resilient communities through mental health education and awareness” said MHC founder Abbie Rosenberg. “I was blown away that these two young men wanted to donate money to help further our mission. The money that they donate will be used to bring our school-based programming to underserved, high-needs school districts.”

Scanlon and Dieter will be presenting a check for $1,000 this week at the MDC office in town.  Boston’s Channel 7 news will be on the scene covering the story.  

“We want to do more. We’re going to make another contribution next year too”, said Scanlon.  “The more grills we clean the more money we can raise.  If you need your grill cleaned, let us know,” said the young entrepreneur.