Elite Soccer Community Organization announces 2016 college scholarship winners
Congratulations to Patrick Hickey and Thomas Ladd, the 2016 winners of The Elite Soccer Community Organization's college scholarships. Both winners will each receive a $500 college scholarship toward college tuition for the upcoming school year.
Patrick Hickey graduated from St. Viator High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society and on the honor roll all four years. He performed nearly 120 hours of community service, was the captain of the Viator soccer team, volunteered with the Special Olympics, was Kairos leader at St. Viator and St. James Parish and helped out with the Elite Juniors program.
"I have been blessed with the great fortune of paying back to the local young stars as they discover their passion for the game," said Hickey.
Hickey will attend and play soccer at Illinois Wesleyan in the fall, where he also received an $18,000 Alumni Scholarship and a $1,000 Explore IWU Grant.
Thomas Ladd graduated from Prospect High School, receiving seven semesters of honors awards. He was a Prospect Link Leader, a member of the Italian Club and Italian Exchange Program, and an ESCO Youth Leader Advisory Council member. In addition, Ladd is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a youth coach for Elite.
"What I realized is that coaching is so much more than teaching children to play the game, but also to develop social responsibility, build character and become strong confident leaders," said Ladd.
Ladd received the Dean Scholarship Award for Bradley University, where he will attend in the fall.
The ESCO Scholarship Fund was established to support students who have participated in programs affiliated with Elite Soccer in their academic endeavors in postsecondary education.
The ESCO scholarship committee consisted of several ESCO board members. The ESCO executive director, as the administrator of the program, received the applications, logged them in for tracking purposes and removed any identification on the application to make the candidate anonymous to the committee.
Winners were chosen primarily based upon the candidates possessing the following criteria: Citizenship, leadership, good sportsmanship and have participated activities that demonstrate a true role model in the community and a demonstrated love and passion for the game of soccer throughout the candidate's participation career.
Also included in the criteria was an individual's academic/scholastic and associated honors as well as any outside (nonschool related) honors.
Both winners will be honored at ESCO's fifth annual golf outing dinner program July 15 at Old Orchard Country Club.
Formed in 2010, ESCO is the nonprofit arm of Elite Soccer. Its mission is to build community by developing youth through soccer in the NW suburbs of Chicago. For information about ESCO, visit www.elitesoccercommunity.org.
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