The Shanese Washington Memorial Scholarship
A FIYA FEATURES STORY | April 29, 2021
Shanese Washington was a believer, teacher, basketball coach, mentor, and entrepreneur whose life work was to inspire our youth all while living a purpose-driven life, happy and fulfilled.
Shanese served as FIYA’s beloved Director of Special Projects and passed away suddenly in April of 2020. She was genuine, hardworking, and overall a fun individual to work and someone who contributed significantly to FIYA in many ways. She was excited about the future of FIYA and about her role in continuing to make FIYA a premier school-based youth sports program. Her driving passion was the youth she met, coached and mentored. More importantly, Shanese was a fantastic human being with her gentle, happy personality and her calm, cool demeanor. We know that she developed special connections with our coaches, administrators and student athletes.
In order to fuel our scholarship fund for deserving students for years to come, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today!
Because of the tremendous impact she had on our organization and in our community, starting with the 2021-2022 school year, FIYA has established in her honor "The Shanese Washington Memorial Scholarship" - an annual $1,000 scholarship fund to be given to two (2) participating FIYA student-athletes, to which each will receive $500 for their educational endeavors.
The deserving recipients shall be graduating 8th graders who played in FIYA during his/her 8th grade year and best exemplifies the words and values of the FIYA Sportsmanship Pledge, which is recited by both teams before each FIYA game at center court or midfield. The applicant will then answer in an essay of 750 words or less to the following question: “What life lessons has the applicant learned from playing on his/her school sports team(s) in FIYA and how will such impact me in high school and beyond?” Please visit our Scholarship Page for more information, specific criteria, eligibility, and directions for our scholarship application process.
Whether it was through her teaching, coaching, her organization PIC3, or through her incredible involvement here at FIYA, Shanese worked day in and day out to inspire student athletes to maximize their potential both on and off the playing field. She was fully committed to motivating and mentoring students and athletes to strive for excellence and to demonstrate leadership, accountability, and self sufficiency in order to achieve their goals. Shanese herself was the perfect example of someone who lived by the words and values of the FIYA Sportsmanship Pledge. It was an absolute privilege to know and work with her, and it's an even bigger honor to dedicate this scholarship in her name.
Although she is no longer with us in person, her spirit is very much alive in all that we do at FIYA. It is our hope that her memory will continue to inspire and impact the lives of young student-athletes for years to come through The Shanese Washington Memorial Scholarship.
Click here to donate to the scholarship fund
THE Shanese Washington Memorial video
