Red Sox Foundation Welcomes 12 New Red Sox Scholars to its Award-Winning College Success Program
BOSTON, MA – For the 18th consecutive year, the Red Sox and Red Sox Foundation have selected and welcomed the newest class of Red Sox Scholars, a college success program managed by the Foundation and presented by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the Official Hospital & Official Health Care Provider of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park.
Through the Red Sox Scholars program, the Foundation seeks to empower Boston’s youth to pursue and complete a higher education by providing mentorship and access to academic, professional, and social opportunities starting in 7th grade, during college, and even post-graduation.
Each year, 12 Boston Public Schools 7th graders are selected and awarded a $10,000 college scholarship. The Red Sox Foundation provides academic, professional, and social support to each student for at least nine years to ensure they graduate from college with as little debt as possible and are prepared to enter the workforce. The program earned Major League Baseball’s first-ever “Commissioner’s Award for Philanthropic Excellence” in 2010.
This year’s induction of 12 new 7th graders brings the total number of Red Sox Scholars to 313.
“In addition to the new scholars we have just welcomed to the program, we are also proud to see many of our current Scholars graduate from high school and college despite some challenging circumstances,” said Red Sox Foundation Executive Director Bekah Salwasser. “The pandemic has required that we creatively reinvent some of our programming to ensure we were assessing individual needs, maintaining consistent connections, and adapting events to be hosted virtually. Through it all, our Scholars have demonstrated tremendous dedication.”
The Red Sox Scholars program receives funding from American Student Assistance, Aramark, Biogen Foundation, Eastern Bank, Doris Buffett’s Letters Foundation, The Lynch Foundation, Northern Trust and PGA Tour, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, and Winter-Lehman Foundation as well as by Red Sox Foundation fundraising events. Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and his wife Erin serve as the Program Captains.
