Monday Night Football
MNF, as most of you know, is Monday night Football. We have a tremendous group of members who volunteer for that committee and provide a lot of fun and good times while working hard to make sure when you attend a Monday night game, our golf tournament or car show, that you leave wanting to come back.
This month, while there is the NCAA men’s and women’s basket- ball championship games on the first weekend, I wanted to share with you how much more the MNF committee is doing and how what we do helps kids in our community.
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Three years ago, our committee came up with the idea about sponsoring a student athlete scholarship. The end result was last month, we funded 11 scholarships for $15,000. Partnering with the scholarship committee, who donated extra funds they had, in total, we gave out 27 scholarships for a total of $31,000. All thanks to you for supporting what we do.
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Our scholarship criteria is a little different though. We require the applicant to write an essay on what and/or how being an athlete and/or athletics has impacted their lives. Describe what obstacles or adversity they overcame from lessons they learned being an athlete and part of a team. The essay is 80% of their score. The other 20% comes from letters of recommendation from their coaches, counselors or teachers. Unique for sure. Their stories even more so.
These high school kids, from all backgrounds, share very personal stories at times. Each year we read essays that describe overcoming learning disabilities, physical injuries both on and off the field or court. They include family health challenges, death and homeless- ness. they are first generation kids who are attending a high school in America for the first time and must learn English, make friends, and fit in. These examples are just a small sample of the kind of student athletes we have in our community. The kind of kids we have in our community that have shown courage, character, perseverance, and grit, to achieve success in the classroom and on the field or court. Based on the essays we have read the past three years, it’s safe to say our future is in pretty good hands.
On behalf of all these student athletes who applied for or received a scholarship from us, we say thank you for supporting what we do. It means more than you know!