FOUR FROM NDP GET EVANS SCHOLARSHIPS

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February 14, 2025

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here. 

Student caddies earned full college scholarships from prestigious Evans Scholars Foundation.

Four students from Notre Dame Prep have been awarded the Evans Scholarship, a full-tuition and housing scholarship granted to golf caddies who excel in academics, leadership and character. It's the first time NDP students have earned this scholarship, which is valued at more than $125,000 over four years.

Seniors Maria Valentina Sedano Camacho, Jennifer Gaytan, DaVion Smith and Jack Stetson qualified by meeting the program’s selection criteria and showing a strong caddie record, excellent academics and outstanding character. 

All four individuals were enrolled in the Aspire Higher program, an initiative funded by the Evans Scholarship Foundation and designed to support young women and men from Pontiac in the eighth and ninth grades. The Aspire Higher program offers comprehensive training, mentorship, and transportation to facilitate their caddie experience and foster their success. All four caddied at Oakland Hills Country Club where the members, notably Scott Wilson and Kimberly Shapiro, and the management, particularly Bob Byerlein and Jon Holmes, played a pivotal role in their achievements.

The Western Golf Association (WGA), headquartered in Glenview, Ill., oversees the Evans Scholars Program. Recently recognized as the Scholarship Provider of the Year by the National Scholarship Providers Association, the Evans Scholars Foundation (ESF) is one of golf’s favorite charities and the nation’s largest scholarship program for caddies.

More than 1,000 Evans Scholars are currently enrolled in colleges and universities nationwide and more than 11,000 caddies have graduated through the program since it was founded by famed Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. in 1930. Evans Scholars are enrolled at 24 leading universities nationwide.

The path to get an Evans Scholarship often starts in seventh, eighth or ninth grade, with students earning their scholarship over the course of up to six years.

Valentina Sedano, one of Notre Dame Prep's scholarship recipients, learned of the program as a ninth grader from NDP alumni parents Jack and Jama Lintol, who were Sedano's Building Bridges class captains.

"I found out about caddying from Mrs. Lintol and her husband, Mr. Lintol," said Sedano. "I have been caddying since the summer after freshman year."

She said caddying was a very worthwhile pursuit for her.

"I would recommend caddying to other students because it's a great way to be active during the summer, build connections, and gain knowledge that you will use throughout life." 

Evans Scholar selection meeting interviews will continue nationwide through the winter. When the 2024-25 selection meeting process is complete, an estimated 360 caddies from across the country are expected to be awarded the Evans Scholarship.

Currently, Evans Scholars in college have a cumulative GPA of 3.3 and a 98-percent graduation rate. An estimated 40 percent are first-generation college students, and typically 95 percent are employed or enrolled in graduate school within six months of graduating.

Funds for the Evans Scholarship come mostly from contributions by more than 36,000 supporters across the country, who are members of the Evans Scholars Par Club program. Evans Scholars alumni donate more than $15 million annually, and all proceeds from the BMW Championship, the penultimate PGA TOUR Playoff event in the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup competition, benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation. In 2025, the BMW Championship will be held at Caves Valley Golf Club near Baltimore, Md., from Aug. 12-17.

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndprep.org.