WooSox Scholars "Class of 2024" Plus 7 WooSox Foundation Fellows Honored on the Field at Polar Park Saturday, June 8

WORCESTER, MA — Four Worcester Public Schools 8th graders were on June 8 named the WooSox Scholars “Class of 2024” and will each receive a college scholarship of $10,000 from the WooSox Foundation. Their induction brings the number of WooSox Scholars to 16 since the program began in 2021.

This year’s recipients, selected from more than 1,700 applicants—the entire 8th grade in Worcester Public Schools—are Sarah Arroyo Rivera of Forest Grove Middle School, and Ethan Tran, Jamy Faustin, and Rohulla Aman, all of Sullivan Middle School.

Next year, Tran will attend South High School, and Arroyo Rivera, Faustin, and Aman will all attend Worcester Technical High School.

The 8th grade faculty of Worcester Public Schools winnowed the applications from more than 1,700 to 84, from which a panel of WooSox Foundation officials selected 20 finalists. After interviewing each finalist, the committee selected the four WooSox Scholars.

At the WooSox’ Home Opener on Tuesday, April 2, the CEO of Diamond Baseball Holdings, Peter Freund, presented a check for $40,000 to the WooSox Foundation to fund this year’s scholars.

The 20 finalists had interviews and stories so compelling, so inspiring, and so moving that the WooSox also established the WooSox Foundation Fellows, seven students who will each receive a college scholarship of $1,000.

They are Ardena Plasa, Bebe Hadia Emami, and Matilda Evans of Burncoat Middle School; Adan Chaudhery and Neelab Kohestani of Sullivan Middle School; and Arianny Mena Matos and Jade Lugo of Worcester East Middle School.

The students receive the funds to go toward tuition and books upon matriculation to the colleges of their choice, provided the students maintain good performance in academics and citizenship.

“We are inspired by our WooSox Scholars,” said Dr. Charles Steinberg, who is both president of the Worcester Red Sox and the WooSox Foundation. “We love getting to know them, to know their stories, and to continue the relationship as they make their way through high school, through college, and beyond. The longitudinal relationships are so fulfilling to us.

“These are students who are succeeding with very few material advantages, and some have endured more twists and turns than anyone should expect to experience in a lifetime. We are proud of our WooSox Scholars and our WooSox Foundation Fellows.”

The Class of 2024 joins the WooSox Scholars Classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023. The inaugural class, now completing junior year, comprises two scholars from Burncoat Middle School: Jakayla Edmonds Weekes of North High School, and Kasie Vuong of Doherty High School. The Class of 2021 also includes Helene Sanchez Navidad from Claremont Academy, now at Nashua (NH) South High School, and Dalton Le of Sullivan Middle School, who is completing his junior year at South High School.

The Class of 2022, competing their sophomore year, comprises Sincere Politano from University Park Campus School; Erika Gutierrez, an alumna of Sullivan Middle School now at South High School; Marenity Gonzalez Giza, a graduate of Worcester East Middle School now at North High School; and Farzana Darwishi, who graduated from Forest Grove and is at Doherty Memorial High School.

The Class of 2023, finishing their freshman years, comprises Burncoat alumni Marrie Brenner and Diego Segura; Anayah Ortiz, an alumna of Forest Grove; and Jeremiah Mlay of University Park.

Upon taking over the Pawtucket Red Sox after the 2015 season, franchise leaders created the PawSox Scholars, with the first pair of students announced on November 4, 2016, and selected a total of 10 through 2019 (two per year in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and four in 2019).

Dr. Steinberg conceived the program in 1992 while with the Baltimore Orioles, after late Red Sox and WooSox Hall of Famer Larry Lucchino asked him to create an impactful program for which the Orioles Foundation could be known. The pair implemented the program when they joined the San Diego Padres in 1995. For decades, 25 Padres Scholars received college scholarships from the Padres Foundation of $5,000 each. When Lucchino and Steinberg arrived in Boston, they created the Red Sox Scholars, in which the newly established Red Sox Foundation provided scholarships of $10,000 each.

There are now more than 750 Padres Scholars, Red Sox Scholars, PawSox Scholars, and WooSox Scholars.

Lucchino and Steinberg established the WooSox Foundation on January 28, 2020, and announced the creation of the WooSox Scholars that day.

Last month, on Friday, May 24, members of the WooSox Foundation drove the WooSox Foundation Care-A-Van, a large RV presented by Bank of America, to Forest Grove and Sullivan to surprise this year’s scholars with the welcome news.

“Watching the children learn of their scholarships, and hearing the emotion of their parents as the students called them, is one of the enduring memories for those of us who have the honor to participate in such joy,” Steinberg said. “We are continually in awe of the power of baseball to shape lives and improve our community.”