Foot Locker Foundation Unveils Recipients of Third Annual Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program

NEW YORK, April 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Foot Locker Foundation, Inc., the charitable arm of Foot Locker, Inc., today announced the twenty recipients of the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program. Each student will receive $20,000 in college scholarships, totaling $400,000.

The scholarship program, funded by the Foot Locker Foundation and administered by DoSomething.org, honors students who demonstrate academic excellence and exemplify strong leadership skills both in sports and within their communities. To date, the program has awarded $1.2 million to help deserving high school student athletes pay for school.

"We created this program three years ago to provide an opportunity for higher education for exceptional student athletes who have made a positive impact within their communities and might not have been able to attend college otherwise," shares Ken C. Hicks, Chairman, President & CEO, Foot Locker, Inc. "We are proud to share the incredible stories of these 20 inspiring individuals, who epitomize all of the virtues and values we are looking for in a Foot Locker Scholar Athlete."

According to The Project on Student Debt, an initiative of the Institute for College Access & Success, student loan debt has risen at an average rate of 6% per year and seven in ten seniors graduate with student loan debt.¹ At a time when the cost of college is often a barrier to college-focused teens, the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program aims to ease the burden of tuition for students who demonstrate a commitment to their education and are poised to be future leaders in their community.

Following are this year's 20 winners, who will join the program's previous two classes of 20 Foot Locker Scholar Athletes each, totaling 60 scholarship recipients in its third year.

• Aaliyah Danielson – Woodbury, MN
• Bryan Carabello – Bronx, NY
• Carson Arthur – Roanoke Rapids, NC
• Christina Soto – Miami, FL
• Cole Scanlon – Coral Gables, FL
• Diwas Adhikari – Dallas, TX
• Evan Mercer – Marietta, GA
• Hannah Moran – Lawrence, KS
• Joshua Davis – Los Angeles, CA
• Karoline VanVoorhis – Dallas, TX
• Kathleen Kanaly – San Francisco, CA
• Kimberly Ann Simpson – Eagle Point, OR
• Lillie Meakim – San Diego, CA
• Maria Brouard – Dover, NJ
• Michael Gonzalez – Houston, TX
• Nadaysia Brooks – Stone Mountain, GA
• Orestes Marquetti – North Las Vegas, NV
• Ralphe Etienne – Nanuet, NY
• Travis Gayle – Jamaica, NY
• Vivian Nguyen – Fort Worth, TX

Click here to read more on these exceptional winners: www.dosomething.org/footlocker.

The Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program is a part of the Foot Locker Foundation, Inc., which promotes a better world for today's youth by creating, developing and supporting innovative educational programs and encouraging health and well-being through physical activity. Supporting this all-star partnership is Fastweb, a trusted scholarship and financial aid resource used by students to help find opportunities to pay for school.

About Foot Locker Foundation, Inc.
Foot Locker Foundation, Inc. is the charitable arm of Foot Locker, Inc., a specialty athletic retailer that operates approximately 3,473 stores in 23 countries in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Over the years, Foot Locker, Inc. has developed meaningful partnerships and programs to improve and enrich the educational opportunities for children across the country. Through its Foot Locker, Footaction, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, SIX:02, Runners Point, and Sidestep retail stores, as well as its direct-to-customer channels, including footlocker.com, Eastbay, CCS.com, SIX:02.com, runnerspoint.com, and sidestep-shoes.com, the Company is a leading provider of athletic footwear and apparel.
For more information, visit www.footlocker.com.

About DoSomething.org
We love teens. They are creative, active, wired…and frustrated that our world is so messed up. DoSomething.org harnesses that awesome energy and unleashes it on causes teens care about. Almost every week, we launch a new national campaign. The call to action is always something that has a real impact and doesn't require money, an adult, or a car. With a goal of 5 million active members by 2015, DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the US for teens and social change. Join us at www.DoSomething.org.

About Fastweb:
Fastweb, a top site in the Monster Worldwide (NYSE:MWW) 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. 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. As the oldest and most popular free online scholarship matching service, the database has more than 1.5 million scholarships totaling over $3.4 billion. To learn more about Fastweb, visit www.fastweb.com and follow on Twitter at @PayingForSchool.

¹ http://projectonstudentdebt.org/files/pub/classof2012.pdf

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SOURCE DoSomething.org