Foot Locker Foundation, Inc. Surprises Twenty High School Student Athletes with Game-Changing Scholarship

Seniors Jalen Milligan and Kendall Kikkawa are two of these standout individuals. Jalen's diverse athletic portfolio includes varsity track and field, varsity softball, USA track and field, Junior Olympics, and competitive dance. She was the first female to qualify for the Oklahoma state track meet in a sprint, a hurdle, a throw, and a jump. Jalen also uses athletics to contribute to her community. In addition to other volunteer work, she's organized free track clinics and also started a program, called the Exchange Zone, where people donate new and used sports equipment to young athletes in need. Jalen wants to run track professionally as a heptathlete, and looks forward to studying exercise science in the Wichita State Honors Program.

Like Jalen, Californian Kendall Kikkawa strives to create a sense of community both on and off the field. An accomplished football, basketball, and baseball athlete, Kendall serves as co-captain of all three of his varsity teams. He also tutors with the Boys and Girls Club, and has traveled to Nicaragua to work with community service groups, and volunteered time visiting with patients at La Mascota, a pediatric cancer hospital. Kendall also co-founded Changing the Community Giving Circle, an organization supporting change makers in the Asian community, which raised nearly $45,000 in the three years since its inception.

"We created the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program to honor extraordinary scholar athletes like Jalen and Kendall, who not only excel academically, but have taken the skills they've cultivated through sports to make a powerful and positive impact within their communities," stated Richard A. Johnson, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Foot Locker, Inc. "With today's escalating costs of college tuition and student debt, our commitment to education has become more important than ever."

Today, the Foot Locker Foundation, Inc. announced the recipients of this year's scholarship program, which each year rewards twenty outstanding student-athletes who demonstrate exceptional academic ability and strong leadership skills in sports, school, and within their communities with $20,000 to support their college dreams. Since the program's inception in 2011, the Foot Locker Foundation has invested more than $2 million in the education and future of some of America's most promising scholar-athletes.

Supporting this all-star program is Fastweb, a trusted scholarship and financial aid resource used by students to help find opportunities to pay for school.

The Foundation also proudly announced the recipient of the Ken C. Hicks Scholarship, an additional $5,000 scholarship (for a total of $25,000) awarded to one of the inductees, in honor of the organization's former Chairman and CEO. Southern California high school senior, Ryan Winters, took home the award for exemplifying elevated academic achievement, personal passion, and a true love of the game.

Jalen, Kendall, and Ryan are just a few examples of the exceptional student-athletes that the program recognized. The seventeen other young people awarded scholarships represent a variety of sports disciplines, personal achievements, community involvement, and come from diverse backgrounds. Together, these 20 students have overcome economic hardships, loss, and disabilities, but in the face of these challenges, have created opportunities not just for themselves, but for others, as well. Their work, their spirit, and their determination ensure that they'll continue to have a positive impact in all their future endeavors.

Snapshots of these incredible winners are below. To learn more about their stories, visit: https://footlockerscholarathletes.com/ and http://bit.ly/FLSA_Winners

About Foot Locker Foundation:

Founded in 2001, Foot Locker Foundation is the charitable arm of Foot Locker, Inc., a specialty athletic retailer that operates approximately 3,400 stores in 23 countries in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Since its inception, the Foundation has developed significant partnerships, programs, and initiatives to improve and enrich communities across the country. Our mission is to promote a better world for today's youth by creating, developing, and supporting innovative educational programs and encouraging health and well-being through physical activity.

About Fastweb:

Fastweb, a top site in the Monster Worldwide network, is the nation's recognized leader in helping students pay for school, by providing scholarship and financial aid information, as well as information on jobs and internships. As the oldest and most popular free online scholarship matching service, one out of three college-bound seniors use the site and more than 50 million users have benefitted from Fastweb's information and services. Fastweb lets students create personalized profiles that can be matched against its expansive databases of colleges and scholarships. To learn more about Fastweb, visit www.fastweb.com and follow Fastweb on social media for the latest on paying for school all year long: Twitter (at @PayingForSchool); Facebook; Pinterest; Google+.

SOURCE Foot Locker Foundation, Inc.