The Jacksonville Area Golf Association announced its 16 new college scholarship recipients for 2024 at a banquet on May 21 at Deerwood Country Club.
The recipients represented a array of high schools throughout the Northeast Florida area, including Nancy Cox and Tre Peterson from Ponte Vedra High and Madeline Splane from St. Augustine High.
Each student was also affiliated and nominated by a local golf club, with Cox representing TPC Sawgrass, Peterson affiliated with NAS Jax and Splane with Hyde Park Golf Club.
Emma Wells calls Neptune Beach her hometown and represented Jax Beach Golf Club, while Atlantic Beach Country Club’s scholarship recipient was Keanu Evans who went to Fletcher High.
The students will be using the scholarships to continue their education in college, with Florida Atlantic University being the most popular choice with three recipients choosing to go there in the fall.
The scholarships are worth $1,250 for each semester during the 2024-2025 academic year.
However, the scholarships are renewable for up to eight semesters depending on the student meeting the criteria of minimum grade-point average and credit hours required.
Peterson was also two recipients to earn the inaugural Gator Bowl Award, which was one of three new awards handed out this year.
The scholarships are awarded thanks to money raised as part of the JAGA Scholarship Trust, which since being formed in 1974, has granted about $2 million in grants to roughly 400 students during that time.
“The JAGA scholarship program continues to get stronger every year and branch out in new ways,” scholarship trust chairman Wayne St. Clair said. “In recent years, this stability has allowed us to expand the number of college-bound students we are able to support, which is very gratifying. Currently, JAGA is providing grants to 51 students who we are confident will become key contributors to the Jacksonville area community or wherever life may take them.”
Applicants for scholarships must be sons, daughters or grandchildren of a member of a JAGA member club or an employee of a member club who resides in JAGA’s Northeast Florida region. Applicants are screened and sponsored by JAGA directors.
The featured speaker at the banquet was Russ Libby, a PGA of America leader on the local, regional and national levels who had just returned from the PGA Championship in Kentucky. He is the owner and general manager of Hidden Hills Golf Club in Jacksonville.
Libby is a strong supporter and advocate of JAGA and has four children, three of whom are former or current JAGA scholarship recipients.
Businesses and individuals interested in making contributions to the scholarship trust can do so by contacting Wayne St. Clair by emailing him at gwstclair@bellsouth.net or by reaching out to any JAGA director from a member club or by going to the JAGA website at www.jaxareagolf.org.
