Northwestern sports coaches will be teaming up this summer with youth organizations in Evanston to provide scholarships for needy children to attend athletic camps on campus.
The NU athletic department and Office of Community Relations reached out to NU coaches and established the Northwestern Camp Scholarship Program in 2003. Every year since, the participating coaches provide spaces in their existing summer programs from June to August. The organizers work with Evanston groups Youth Organizations Umbrella, Inc., Family Focus and the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center to identify youth between kindergarten and 8th grade who are interested in participating. The program has expanded since 2003 to include 82 scholarships, said Lucile Krasnow, special assistant for community relations.
“It says a lot about how generous the coaches are and how interested they are to give back to the community in their own way, by offering this camp experience to young kids, who would never otherwise be able to afford to attend these types of camps,” Krasnow said.
Upon receiving the number of scholarships, Krasnow said she meets with staff members from the three Evanston groups for a “lottery lunch.”
“They bargain with each other, knowing their own kids and who to place in each camp,” she said. “They sort of barter with each other to decide who will take each scholarship, and they all get an equal amount. The three staff members are extremely generous to each other when they learn about specific kids who would enjoy specific camps.”
Attendees and organizers have given positive feedback regarding the program, said Brad Hurlbut, NU’s senior associate athletic director, who started the program with Krasnow in 2003.
“It’s been a win-win for everybody,” he said. “We should be giving back to the community, and the University does in so many ways. This is just another example of that.”
For the coaches and varsity athletes involved, the scholarship program is an easy way to give back, NU women’s soccer coach Stephanie Foster said.
“I think it’s a really easy way for us to not just give an opportunity but also have our players and our staff involved in these underprivileged kids’ lives,” Foster said. “The kids are always a fun group to work with. They’re always happy to be there.”
The scholarship is a good outreach program for the team as well, NU men’s tennis coach Arvid Swan said.
“I think it’s a great initiative,” Swan said. “From the community outreach standpoint, it’s extremely important for the varsity teams to reach out to a community that supports us on a regular basis.”
The youth participants benefit because they have the opportunity to take advantage of NU’s resources and learn a sport they may never have thought of trying, such as field hockey and fencing, said Betsy Jenkins, center manager for the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center.
“Where else in Evanston offers a fencing scholarship? Or who else has hockey? You have to look at the fact that Northwestern – they have a lot of programs that children haven’t seen or ever heard of,” Jenkins said. “There is nothing else better that I can ask for for these kids.”
