LI Student-Athlete Receives $20K Scholarship During Knicks Game

BRENTWOOD, NY - A Brentwood student-athlete recently received the surprise of her life at a basketball game in Madison Square Garden.

During the half-time of the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic game on Tuesday night, Hillary Ramos Espinoza was awarded a $20,000 scholarship for college as one of 20 exceptional young student-athletes honored in the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program.

For the seventh year in a row, Foot Locker Foundation, Inc. recognized students who demonstrate academic excellence and strong leadership skills both in sports and within their communities.

Espinoza will join the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes class of 2018, which was selected from a highly competitive pool of over 13,000 applicants.

“Each year, it seems we are inspired even more by the stories and caliber of the students who are selected as our Foot Locker Scholar Athletes,” Richard A. Johnson, CEO of Foot Locker, said. “We are extremely proud to recognize outstanding scholar athletes, such as Hillary, and provide much-needed educational opportunities for today’s youth to empower them to succeed.”

Check out what the foundation had to say about the local student-athlete:

Setting her sights on academic and athletic achievements early on, Hillary Ramos Espinoza is an incredibly bright presence in her community. A veteran on her varsity swim team, Hillary is also a mentor through Athletes Helping Athletes since 2015 and is extremely passionate about inspiring the younger generation. After losing her mother to cancer in 2016, Hillary has kept her mother as her greatest inspiration and hopes to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a pediatrician. She was selected as Brentwood Suffolk County Delegate at the Angelo Del Toro Puerto Rican/Hispanic Leadership Institute, earned the Steven Bellone 2017 Hispanic Heritage Award, and the Monica Martinez 2017 “Shaping the Bright Future of America” Hispanic Heritage Award. Hillary is a member of NHS, National Spanish Honor Society, serves as a senior class officer as an executive board member, and is ranked 9th of 625 in her class. Hillary has been accepted to City College of New York.

Congratulations to Hillary Ramos Espinoza!

Photo credit: TMI strategy