For the ninth consecutive year, the Foot Locker Foundation has awarded $20,000 scholarships to 20 exceptional students.

This year’s awardees come from diverse backgrounds and represent a variety of sports disciplines, personal achievements and community involvement. Despite overcoming economic hardships, loss, natural disasters, and chronic illnesses, these young people have created inspiring opportunities through leadership in athletics, academics and within their communities.

On May 21, the selected finalists joined a virtual discussion, facilitated by content creator and media personality Tony Mui, to connect with one another about how COVID-19 is impacting their lives and communities.

The discussion explored how students are coping and provided an opportunity for them to share words of advice to their fellow high school seniors. “People have to have patience,” said Rishab Jagetia of Houston, TX. “I miss my senior year so much. I wish I could be with all of my friends, but I know if I take the right actions now to try to flatten the curve, it’s going to play out later.”

The finalists were then surprised with a celebratory reveal by NBA player Collin Sexton, who announced that they were all winners of the 2019/20 Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Scholarship. “I know it’s been tough for high school seniors everywhere who have had to miss out on major milestones,” said the Cleveland Cavaliers guard. “I’m honored to team up with Foot Locker to help reward these student-athletes for all of their hard work and dedication, especially during this time.”

“In these unprecedented and challenging times, we’re more committed than ever to supporting and empowering young people to pursue their dreams and attend college,” stated Richard A. Johnson, Chairman & CEO of Foot Locker, Inc. “The Foot Locker Scholar Athletes program continues to be an important platform to celebrate some of the most talented and exceptional young scholar-athletes across the country who are making a tremendous impact within their communities.”

This year’s 20 winners will join the program’s eight previous classes of Foot Locker Scholar Athletes which represents 180 total scholarship recipients since the program’s inception in 2011. With the 2020 Class, the Foot Locker Foundation will have invested more than $3 million in the education and future of some of America’s most promising scholar-athletes. Supporting the program is Fastweb, a scholarship and financial aid resource used by students and some of the scholarship winners to help find opportunities to pay for school. This year’s honorees are as follows:

Photo/Chart courtesy Foot Locker