The deadline for the Augusta Sports Council’s GAMES scholarships is April 1.
“The scholarships are geared to graduating high school students,” said Michelle Naval, the council’s CEO.
Students may be nominated by someone else, or they may apply on their own. Most of the time, however, the students aren’t aware they’ve been nominated, she said.
Scholarships are given to students in Richmond, Columbia, Burke, McDuffie, Wilkes, Warren and Aiken counties who may play sports without a high profile, where their athleticism is less likely to garner them a full scholarship to a university. An emphasis is placed on their academics and community involvement, not just their athletic ability.
Naval said the program developed in an anniversary year for the sports council, and it originally revolved around a banquet. But the banquet was ditched prior to the pandemic to allow additional funding to go toward the scholarships.
Ten $1,000 scholarships will be distributed.
And instead of being given at a central banquet, they are announced through what Naval called a “Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes” type of approach — meaning the student-athlete is surprised with the help of a coach, teacher or parent.
Naval said they’ve made the scholarship announcements at school or at a school-related banquet or honors program.
“This is the fourth year we’ve done the surprise,” she said.
In addition to a check and a letter, the recipient also gets some type of swag package. Previous swag packages have included Augusta GreenJackets tickets.
To apply or to nominate a student-athlete visit the sports council’s website at https://www.augustasportscouncil.org/games-scholarship-program.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
