{"id":105441,"date":"2015-10-27T09:01:18","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T13:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=105441"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:10:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:10:55","slug":"student-athletes-meet-those-who-make-it-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/10\/student-athletes-meet-those-who-make-it-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-athletes Meet Those Who Make it Possible"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Donor<\/a>
Donor Paul Polo and field hockey midfielder Roisin Upton, a senior from Limerick, Ireland, at the Athletics Endowment annual dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn baseball pitcher Nico Darras looked out at fellow Husky student-athletes and donors at a recent UConn Athletics Endowment Dinner, and talked about how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and glory of being a Husky champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the 6 a.m. lift, the hours of study hall, the walk-off home runs, the buzzer beaters, and the fourth-quarter field goal,\u201d he said. \u201cThen it hit me. None of those things were possible without you — the donors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darras, a junior from Laguna Beach, Calif., said he and other student-athletes are grateful to be able to play the game they love while getting a top-rate college education. Darras told the 250 students, coaches, and donors gathered in the Rome Ballroom that scholarships not only make it possible to be a student-athlete at UConn, but in many cases enable the recipients to go to college at all.<\/p>\n

\"Volleyball<\/a>
Volleyball player Immanuella Anagu ’16 (BUS), a marketing major from Culver City, Calif. (Stephen Slade ’89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Such is the case for Immanuella Anagu, a marketing major from Culver City, Calif., who has an endowed scholarship to play volleyball.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty much the reason I can go to a school like this,\u201d she said. \u201cI know if I didn\u2019t have volleyball and didn\u2019t have the support from UConn I wouldn\u2019t be here. I wouldn\u2019t be able to afford it. The fact that these people give their money and put their trust in us, I think that\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Lexi Gifford, a softball shortstop from Natick, Mass., said her scholarship has made college more affordable.<\/p>\n

\"Softball<\/a>
Softball player Lexi Gifford, a senior from Natick, Mass. (Stephen Slade ’89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t come from a wealthy background, so it opened a lot of doors being able to earn a scholarship,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful. I don\u2019t think \u2018thank you\u2019 covers it, but thank you [to donors] for everything they\u2019ve put into the University, the athletics, and the athletes. We just look to pay it forward for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Private support from donors is more essential than ever for the success of UConn\u2019s 24 varsity sports and more than 700 student-athletes. This year a new fundraising initiative, the \u201cDrive for 5K,\u201d is being launched with the goal of increasing the number of donors to athletic scholarships from 4,400 to 5,000.<\/p>\n

During the dinner, endowed scholarship donor Mark Sinatro, \u201988, himself a scholarship recipient in men\u2019s tennis during his undergraduate days at UConn, congratulated the student-athletes for their determination, hard work, integrity, and character. He predicted their drive would spill over into their professional life, and urged them not to forget their alma mater.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know for a fact you will all be successful,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are going to hang up the cleats, hang up the sneakers, and you are going to go out there and knock the professional world dead. I want you to always remember UConn. I want you to stay connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scholarship<\/a>
Once a scholarship recipient as a UConn student-athlete in tennis, and now a scholarship donor, Mark Sinatro addresses students, coaches, and other donors during the annual Athletics Endowment dinner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sinatro also thanked the donors for making a difference in the lives of the student-athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know firsthand the sacrifices that you make to make that contribution year in and year out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Field hockey midfielder Roisin Upton, of Limerick, Ireland, said the foundation for athletic excellence has been laid down over the years by dedicated donors.<\/p>\n

\u201cYear after year, the legacy grows, the standard rises, and the community and winning culture exists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have made some friends for life from all corners of the world, and also have been surrounded by the types of people that have shaped and formed how to act and think my whole life long. On top of all this, I have been given the opportunity to broaden myself holistically by giving back through community service through the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and their community outreach programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this way, it\u2019s fair to say that being a recipient of a sports scholarship at the University of Connecticut is definitely a golden ticket,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Director of Athletics Warde Manuel noted that UConn student-athletes continue to perform well academically. More than half achieved at least a 3.0 grade point average and 28 student-athletes earned a 4.0 in the fall or spring semester during the 2014-2015 academic year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe momentum and success on and off the fields of play are the result of your belief and support of this exceptional institution,\u201d he told the donors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Husky student-athletes had an opportunity to thank scholarship donors at a recent endowment dinner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":105438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1712,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-105441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 03:09:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105441"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105447,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105441\/revisions\/105447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/105438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105441"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=105441"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=105441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}