UMPS CARE Charities is going back to school, welcoming three new additions to our All-Star College Program this fall!
The three new recipients are Denny Haught, Krista Polly and Lexi Reel-Pope. Denny is starting his freshman year at Arizona State; Krista just moved into her dorm at East Carolina and Lexi (above) will be a junior at Clemson.
All three of these students were adopted in their teens, and will recieve funding toward their college education thanks to this program.
In addition to the financial benefits of this scholarship, one of the major components of this program is that we match each recipient with a mentor or mentors from the MLB Umpire community. This is critical as we have found have that extra support has benefited from those relationships.
Since we added the mentorship component to the scholarship program in 2015, we are proud to share that we have had a 100 percent graduation rate!
MLB Umpire Todd Tichenor and his wife, Kelly, volunteered to serve as mentors for Vitalik Walle, who was adopted as a teen from an orphanage in Ukraine and graduated from Colorado Christian University.
“What surprised me the most about mentoring was seeing our scholarship winner’s growth in the 4 years that we helped him through college,” Todd shared with us. “He literally grew up before our eyes. We were on phone calls with him about his studies; we checked on his grades. We spoke about what he wanted to do with his life after college. We hopefully helped him learn how to ‘Pay it forward’ as well.”
Denise and Dan Iassogna are serving as mentors to Serena Mangual, who is a student at Central Florida.
“Serena has been a joy throughout this process,” Denise told us. “Dan and I have gotten to know her from the first semester she entered college. She is such an intelligent and thoughtful young woman. We are so fortunate to be included in the scholarship program and to be witnesses to her college experience.”
“There are so many students out there that would benefit, not only financially, but from words of encouragement,” Denise added. “College is tough! And just because someone is accepted to a certain school does not mean there will not be struggles or challenges along the way. We believe any type of support can help a student achieve their dreams of becoming a college graduate.”
Since our program began in 2006, UMPS CARE has provided more than $350,000 in financial assistance to children adopted later in life.
Special thanks to Deloitte, the Marcum Foundation and Umpire Focus for helping us expand this program and to our donors who have helped us build this program and have made it what it is today.
If you are interested in sponsoring this program or know of a potential student candidate for this program, email Jennifer Jopling at [email protected]
