By DJ Harding
On Saturday as the Worcester Red Sox took on the Rochester Red Wings in a doubleheader, the Woo Sox would induct their class of 2023 WooSox Scholars.
Each member of the inducted class will receive a college scholarship of $10,000 from the WooSox Foundation. The students receive the funds for tuition and books at the time of matriculation to the college of their choice.
The members of the class themselves were selected from the entire class of eighth graders from Worcester Public Schools.
The four inductees themselves are Marrie Brenner, Diego Segura, Anayah Ortiz, and Jeremiah Mlay.
Brenner and Segura both attend Burncoat Middle School. Ortiz goes to Forest Grove Middle School and Mlay attends University Park Campus School.
This is the third class of WooSox scholars joining the Classes of 2021 and 2022.
The inaugural 2021 Class also included two Burncoat Middle School students, Jakayla Edmonds Weekes, who is now a sophomore at North High School and Kasie Vuong, who is now a Doherty High sophomore.
The remaining members of the 2021 class are Helene Sanchez Navidad from Claremont Academy, who now is a current sophomore at Nashua South High School, and Dalton Le from Sullivan Middle School, a current sophomore at South High School.
The 2022 Class comprises of Farzana Darwishi, who graduated from Forest Grove before attending Wachusett Regional High School for his freshman year of High School, Marenity Gonzalez Giza, who’s a freshman at North High School but graduated from Worcester East Middle, Ericka Gutierrez, now a South High ninth grader after graduating from Sullivan Middle School, and Sincere Polanco, who is still at University Park Campus for his freshman year after completing the eighth grade there.
The selection process saw the eighth grade faculty of Worcester Public Schools narrow down the number of applicants to 89.
From that 89, a panel of school and WooSox Foundation officials selected 22 finalists. Those 22 were interviewed which was then narrowed to the four selected WooSox Scholars.
“Selecting our annual WooSox Scholars is among our most rewarding experiences.We learn so much about the neighborhoods, the schools, and the living environments of our children, and they inspire us with their determination, courage, and perseverance.” said Worcester Red Sox President and President of the WooSox Foundation Dr. Charles A. Steinberg. “Early adolescence is challenging for any child, and these students have not had a bounty of material advantages. We seek to show them that we care about them, that we believe in them, and that their dreams of college are valid—and funded.”
Before moving to Worcester, leaders of the franchise had the PawSox Scholars which was created on Nov. 4, 2016.
There were 10 PawSox Scholars from 2016 to 2019. Two were selected each year from 2016 to 2018 with four selected in 2019.
The program was conceived long before the PawSox as WooSox Chairman and Principal Owner Larry Lucchino along with Steinberg came up with the idea in 1992 when they were with the Baltimore Orioles.
The idea was first implemented in 1995 with the San Diego Padres which had decades of 25 Padres Scholars getting $5,000 each. When the duo came to Boston the Red Sox Foundation gave $10,000 each.
There are now more than 750 Padres, Red Sox, Paw Sox and Woo Sox Scholars.