When Jackie M. Robinson ’09 was looking for college scholarships his senior year of high school, one offering institution stood out as a natural choice: the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
“I definitely applied hoping I would get in because of my name, but it didn’t work out that way,” says Robinson. After he was initially rejected, Robinson finally got the scholarship.
The foundation’s Web site calls it both “a vehicle to perpetuate the memory of Jackie Robinson” and “an advocate for young people with the greatest need.” Established by the wife of the legendary African-American baseball player after he died in 1973, there are currently 259 Jackie Robinson Scholars, nine of which are now at Harvard.
Della Britton-Baeza, president and CEO of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, says, “Jackie Robinson [the student] sums up all the values we hope to instill in our students—commitment to community service, academic performance, musical pursuits—he really is a prototype of our foundation scholars.”
The scholarship application involved an essay about Jackie Robinson, for whom Robinson’s dad was named.
“I remember writing about his struggle in the Major Leagues,” says Robinson. “I feel like I struggled a bit in high school with racial issues, and it’s important to know someone else went through something much larger than me, and I was only following his footsteps.”
In addition to four-year financial aid, the foundation organizes several leadership and mentoring programs throughout the year. Christina M. Gibbs ’08, a Jackie Robinson Scholar, has gone with Robinson to the networking weekend held every year in New York. This consists of career seminars, resume workshops, group activities, and, needless to say, personal introductions.
“Everyone goes around and says their name,” says Gibbs. “When Jackie goes, there’s a silence. Then a burst of laughter. And then, ‘Really? Really?’”
