PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- State Farm Insurance awarded scholastic scholarships to nine student-athletes Thursday night at the 20th PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship Opening Ceremony, at the PGA Historical Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The scholarship money is being donated to the respective universities in the name of the scholarship recipient.
Freshman Melissa Uriegas of Edinburg, Texas, received a $2,000 scholarship with the highest grade point average of 4.0. Uriegas is a biology and chemistry major at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. The remaining eight recipients received a $1,000 scholarship.
"State Farm Insurance is proud to be a part of this Championship and this year, the nine scholarship recipients are extremely deserving as they are committed to their academics," said Bobby Wilkinson Jr., Manager of National Sponsorship Marketing for State Farm Insurance Companies. "The scholarships are very beneficial to the students by assisting with their formal education. State Farm Insurance wishes each of the recipients success in golf and life, along with encourages them to help their fellow man along the way."
Sophomores Esquire Ward of Stone Mountain, Ga., and Cory Jozefiak of Pownal, Vt., are participating in their second consecutive PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship after finishing in 12th place in Division II and in 27th place in Division I last year, respectively. Ward is majoring in mechanical engineering and mathematics at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., while Jozefiak is a business management major at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C.
The six remaining scholarship winners are participating in their first Championship. Rick Stewart of Santa Rosa, Calif., is a junior, majoring in the PGA Professional Golf Management Program at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M. Rodolfo Gamino of Guadalajara, Mexico, is a sophomore marketing major at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. Ryen Williams of Jacksonville, Fla., is a freshman business, logistics and transportation major at Alabama A&M University in Normal, Ala. Dustin Thompson of Bloomington, Ill., is a freshman marketing and physics major at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. Finally, Deztany O've Jackson of Fort Washington, Md., and Patrick Phillips of Baton Rouge, La., are both mechanical engineering majors at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and Southern University, respectively.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship will be conducted May 5-7, at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, The PGA of America's first owned and operated state-of-the-art public golf facility. It marks the ninth consecutive year that PGA Golf Club has hosted the national Championship, which is fully managed and operated by The PGA of America for the first year in the Championship's 20-year history. State Farm Insurance and The Golf Channel have combined to produce a one-hour Championship highlight program, which will air on July 6, at 6 p.m. EST.
Celebrating its 90th anniversary, The PGA of America was founded in 1916, and is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the game of golf, while continuing to enhance the standards of the profession. The Association is comprised of more than 28,000 men and women PGA Professionals who are dedicated to growing participation in the game of golf.
