ESCO 2016 College Scholarship Winners

Congratulations to Patrick Hickey and Thomas Ladd, the 2016 winners of The Elite Soccer Community Organization’s (ESCO) College Scholarships! Both winners will each receive a $500 college scholarship to go towards college tuition for the upcoming school year.

Patrick Hickey graduated from St. Viator High School where he was a member of the National Honor Society, and on the honor roll all four years there. He also performed nearly 120 hours of community service during high school. He was captain of the Viator soccer team, volunteered with the Special Olympics, was Kairos Leader at Viator and St. James Parish, and also helped out with the Elite Juniors program. “I have been blessed with the great fortune of paying back to the local young stars as they discover their passion for the game.” Patrick will attend and play soccer at Illinois Wesleyan in the Fall, where he also received an $18,000 Alumni Scholarship and a $1,000 Explore IWU Grant.

Thomas Ladd graduated from Prospect High School receiving seven semesters of honors award. He was a Prospect Link Leader, a member of the Italian Club and Italian Exchange Program, and an ESCO Youth Leader Advisory Council member. In addition, Thomas is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and a youth coach for Elite. “What I realized is that coaching is so much more than teaching children to play the game but also to develop social responsibility, build character, and become strong confident leaders.” Thomas received the Dean Scholarship Award for Bradley University, where he will attend in the Fall.

The ESCO Scholarship Fund was established to support students who have participated in programs affiliated with Elite Soccer in their academic endeavors in post-secondary education.

The ESCO scholarship committee consisted of several ESCO Board of Directors. The ESCO Executive Director, as the administrator of the program, received the applications, logged them in for tracking purposes and removed any identification on the application to make the candidate anonymous to the committee.

Winners were chosen primarily based upon the candidates possessing the following criteria: (1) citizenship, leadership, good sportsmanship and have participated activities that demonstrate a true role model in the community, (2) a demonstrated love and passion for the game of soccer throughout the candidate’s participation career. Also included in the criteria was an individual’s academic/scholastic and associated honors as well as any outside (non-school related) honors.

Both winners will be honored at ESCO’s 5th Annual Golf Outing dinner program on July 15th at Old Orchard Country Club.

Formed in 2010, ESCO is the non-profit arm of Elite Soccer. Its mission is to build community by developing youth through soccer in the NW suburbs of Chicago. For more information about ESCO, visit www.elitesoccercommunity.org.