The Shanese Washington Memorial Scholarship Fund
This sets an incredible foundation for TSWM Scholarship by funding the FIRST (4) FOUR YEARS of scholarship awards for (8) EIGHT student-athlete recipients! Let's continue to keep Shanese's spirit alive by fueling the fund for years to come!
Shanese served as FIYA’s beloved Director of Special Projects and passed away suddenly in April of 2020. She was genuine, hardworking, and overall a fun individual to work with and someone who contributed significantly to FIYA in many ways. She was excited about the future of FIYA and about her role in continuing to make FIYA a premier school-based youth sports program. Her driving passion was the youth she met, coached and mentored. More importantly, Shanese was a fantastic human being with her gentle, happy personality and her calm, cool demeanor. We know that she developed special connections with our coaches, administrators and student athletes.
Because of the tremendous impact she had on our organization and in our community, starting with the 2021-2022 school year, FIYA has established in her honor "The Shanese Washington Memorial Scholarship" - an annual $1,000 scholarship fund to be given to two (2) participating FIYA student-athletes, to which each will receive $500 for their educational endeavors.
The deserving recipients shall be graduating 8th graders who played in FIYA during his/her 8th grade year and best exemplifies the FIYA Sportsmanship Pledge, which is recited in unison by both teams before each FIYA game at center court or midfield. The applicant will then answer in an essay of 750 words or less to the following question: “What life lessons has the applicant learned from playing on his/her school sports team(s) in FIYA and how will such impact me in high school and beyond?”
Whether it was through her teaching, coaching, her organization PIC3, or through her incredible involvement here at FIYA, Shanese worked day in and day out to inspire student athletes to maximize their potential both on and off the playing field. She was fully committed to motivating and mentoring students and athletes to strive for excellence and to demonstrate leadership, accountability, and self sufficiency in order to achieve their goals. Shanese herself was the perfect example of someone who lived by the words values of the FIYA Sportsmanship Pledge. It was an absolute privilege to know and work with her, and it's an even bigger honor to dedicate this scholarship in her name. Although she is no longer with us in person, her spirit is very much alive in all that we do at FIYA.
Please click here to learn more about Shanese, her legacy, and the Shanese Washington Memorial Scholarship.