Meet Frida Garcia! She was awarded the Evans Scholarship, a four-year college scholarship, from the Western Golf Association!
Frida Garcia at Minsky’s South Plaza.
Frida is a senior in high school who works part-time as a cashier at Minsky’s South Plaza location. She has been working at Minsky’s for over a year as a cashier – assisting Minsky’s customers, answering incoming calls, checking carry out orders, and keeping the restaurant running smoothly.
She currently attends Bishop Ward High School in the morning and takes dual credit college courses from both Donnelly College and Kansas City Kansas Community College in the afternoon before she clocks in at Minsky’s to work the dinner shift. Frida’s dedication and hard work at school has earned her 21 college course credits before even graduating from high school!
In addition to working at Minsky’s after school and on weekends, Frida is also part of a caddie program at Indian Hills Country Club. She was introduced to the caddie program by someone she met while attending Saturday Academy. She gave it a try 3 years ago and has been caddying each summer since! When she started the caddie program, she learned there were major scholarship opportunities for caddies with good records when they finished high school, but she never imagined that she would be able to receive one.
Finishing high school, taking college courses, and working two jobs – it would be a huge understatement to say keeping up with all these different commitments was a walk in the park for Frida. Her family moved to Kansas City from Zacatecas, Mexico when Frida was young. As a first-generation immigrant, on paper Frida may have appeared to have the odds stacked against her. But Frida was determined to make the most of her opportunities. Despite the many struggles Frida and her family have endured as new immigrants, Frida continued to push ahead and achieve what many might think was nearly impossible – a full-ride college scholarship!
Although still also in high school, Frida has been working at Minsky’s and her caddie job at Indian Hills to help pay for her college tuition at Donnelly College. On top of that, Frida has always taken her academic studies seriously and has worked incredibly hard to keep her grades high. During her last year of high school, Frida set about applying for numerous different scholarships in hopes of gaining some financial help for college after high school graduation. She was fortunate enough to be offered a few relatively small scholarships, but nothing prepared her for the offer she was about to receive from the WGA.
The Evans Scholarship
The Evans Scholarship fund was started back in 1930 by the Western Golf Association as a way to help encourage youth to get involved with caddying and to assist them in continuing their post-high school education. The concept from WGA is that while caddying on the golf course, caddies have the opportunity to meet role models who can teach them important leadership skills – skills that help prepare the caddies for life. With the addition of the Evans Scholarship, WGA has been able to help deserving caddies continue their education at top schools around the nation.
To earn the Evans Scholarship, a caddy must show they have a strong caddie record (at least 3 summers of caddying), excellent grades, outstanding character, and demonstrated financial need. The scholarship includes 4 years of college tuition and student housing while attending one of 22 different universities across the U.S.
Future Jayhawk
Frida was thrilled to learn she had won an Evans Scholarship. She’d always been an excellent student, but she never imagined her good grades would earn her an opportunity as amazing as the Evans Scholarship! Frida picked the University of Kansas from the list of schools the Evans Scholarship may be applied to for a number of reasons.
Beyond KU’s reputation as a great academic school, Frida’s older brother had attended KU and he highly recommended Kansas. KU also seemed the perfect distance from home for Frida – not too close, but also not too far from family! At Kansas, Frida plans to attend the business school and study marketing.
Frida says she’s both a little nervous but also quite excited to start her college adventure! She also reports that living on campus with friends she met through the caddie program is one of the top things she’s looking forward to. Frida’s also thrilled that she doesn’t have to job hunt once she arrives in Lawrence – she’s already been promised a position at the Minsky’s Pizza location on Mass Street!