By GARY LONG | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
Marte Rodriguez received the good news he was hoping for late Wednesday morning in the St. Joseph Academy Student Center when representatives of the Foot Locker Foundation showed up to award him a $20,000 scholarship as part of the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program.
Rodriguez and his classmates were in the student center as part of the annual Marist Day of Service. Ricardo Ramirez, general manager of Foot Locker operations in the Rio Grande Valley, presented him with a giant check for $20,000.
The award will be paid in four installments of $5,000 each during the course of Rodriguez’s university career. Ramirez, who is based in McAllen, said this is the first time in the seven years that Foot Locker has awarded the scholarship that it has gone to someone from the Rio Grande Valley.
“This proves that dreams do come true,” he said.
Rodriguez is the Class of 2018 valedictorian. He has been accepted and plans to attend the business honors program at the University of Texas at Austin.
“This will help a lot,” he said.
Also, he is captain of the cross country team, was a first-team state track & field selection, and received a number of awards, including the TAPPS Academic All-State Track & Field Award. He is active in the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society.
Rodriguez was one of 20 student-athletes to receive the Foot Locker award and was selected from a pool of more than 13,000 applicants as someone who demonstrates exemplary character and strength.
Ramirez presented the scholarship during an impromptu ceremony following an all-school service in observance of the Marist Day of Service, which was Wednesday.
During the day, St. Joseph students packed a minimum of 108,000 “manna packs” to meet the nutritional needs of malnourished children around the world for the Christian nonprofit Feed My Starving Children.