Chick Evans Scholarship among the $1 M+ to Woodlands Academy Grads
The 47 members of Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart's Class of 2015 are heading off to college this fall with a total of 87 scholarships worth more than $1.1 million.
Highlighting this outstanding achievement is the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship, a full tuition and housing college scholarship for golf caddies that is renewable for up to four years, awarded to Shalonda Jones of Waukegan.
"When I first started caddying [four years ago], the only thing I knew about golf was Tiger Woods," Jones said, adding that her father helped teach her, and she watched training videos, but the first year caddying at Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette was rough.
A Daniel Murphy scholar, Shalonda was one of the first students in the WGA Caddie Academy which started four years ago as an all-girls program. The Academy allows the girls, who wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to work at a golf course, a chance to experience the benefits of caddying, from learning life lessons to being around successful adults. Those who complete the program become eligible to apply for the Evans Scholarship.
"I love it because the Academy promotes girls, and going to an all-girls school, I'm all for girl power," said Jones, who spent 12-hour days caddying, six days a week the last four summers, staying at the Northwestern Evans Scholarship House in Evanston.
She learned a lot living with 30 other girls and said the program helps build so many skills - people skills, how to deal with all kinds of issues, organizational skills and compromising skills necessary to live in a group setting.
Jones applied last fall for the Chick Evans Scholarship. Each year, more than 800 deserving caddies across the country attend college on a four-year scholarship from the Evans Scholars Foundation. Selected applicants must have a strong caddie record, excellent grades, outstanding character and demonstrated financial need.
The Woodlands Academy community pulled together to prepare Jones for her interview as a finalist. She headed to Conway Farms to interview in February before the executive committee and about 150 people.
When Jones subsequently received a large envelope in the mail, and the first word she saw was "congratulations," she knew she got the scholarship. "That day was probably the happiest I've ever been in my life."
Jones will attend Marquette University this fall where her major is undecided, though she might pursue a profession in the medical fields or business.
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Founded in 1858, Woodlands Academy is an independent Catholic college preparatory day and boarding high school for young women. It's part of a worldwide network of Sacred Heart Schools that spans the United States and 40 other countries. A nonprofit, Woodlands Academy's identity is rooted in Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat's desire to inspire young hearts and minds to excel, to lead lives of integrity and to serve. For more information about Woodlands Academy, please visit www.woodlandsacademy.org