31 Youth on Course Members Receive College Scholarships

On June 16, nearly 150 guests gathered in Sacramento to celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s class of Youth on Course scholars.

Each Youth on Course scholarship recipient was selected out of a pool of more than 400 applicants. The candidates had to submit essays, letters of recommendation, and participate in formal interviews. 80 finalists were interviewed before the final selection of 31 scholars. Scholarship recipients are chosen based on both need an merit.

Of the 31 awardees, 12 will be the first in their family to attend college, three will play golf in college, and many represented their fellow students as class presidents. The average GPA for the award winners was 3.92. In total, the group had more than 5,000 hours of community service in high school.

This was the 3rd Annual Youth on Course Scholarship Luncheon. Three scholarship recipients who emulated the core purpose of Youth on Course spoke during the event. Dominic Salomone of Martinez began by telling his story of joining YOC at a young age. One of the long-time YOC members in attendance, he took the audience through his journey towards college golf at William Jessup Univeristy. Dominic has been both a caddie and an intern with Youth on Course.

Next, Brittany DeWeaver of Oakland spoke about her introduction to the game of golf through Youth on Course. Before Youth on Course, Brittany had never once played golf. Now, she plays on her High School team and credits golf with inspiring her to do well in school. Brittany will head to Minnesota to attend Carleton College next fall.

Finally, Meagan McEnery of San Mateo inspired the audience with her story and passion for golf. Meagan was both an intern and a caddie with Youth on Course and is a very competitive player. Meagan spoke of the trials of being the only girl on the course, or the only girl doing a double-bag loop and how golf has taught her so many lessons. Meagan will attend Sonoma State University in the fall to study Nursing.

Following the speeches, each scholar was brought on stage to receive a certificate and a handshake from Board Chairman, Bill Hammonds. Just as everyone thought the event was winding down, the audience received a huge surprise with the announcement from Youth on Course Executive Director that thanks to a donation from Eric Rudney and Associates, each scholar would be leaving the event with a brand new Chromebook Laptop to get them started on their journey.

Since the inception of the scholarship program in 2008, Youth on Course has awarded more than $912,000 in college scholarships to deserving high school graduates.

Meet the Scholars