The First Tee “Angels” Get Their Wings

2014 Angel Scholarship Program Recruits 10 Schools in First Week LOWELL, ARK. (March 3, 2014) The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas (TFTNWA) is pleased to announce that its 2014 Angel Scholarship Program has recruited 10 “Angel” schools in its first week of operation. The “Angels” accepting their wings are: Holcomb, Asbell and Owl Creek elementary schools, in Fayetteville; Elmdale, Jones, Westwood and Bayyari elementary schools, in Springdale; Tucker and Eastside elementary schools, in Rogers; and, Cooper Elementary, in Bentonville/Bella Vista. The Angel Scholarship Program, founded in 2013, seeks to provide scholarships to youth who might not otherwise be able to take part in TFTNWA programming. “Our 2014 Angel ScholarshipProgram will seek to recruit 16 elementary schools in Benton and Washington counties with a goal of inviting over 400 deserving students to take part in The First Tee programming at no charge,” said TFTNWA Director of Outreach, Elizabeth Prenger. “Each elementary school willing to serve as an ‘Angel’ will identify 25 students who will be invited to accept a scholarship that will pay the students’ annual registration fee and class registration fees for the seven sessions of The First Tee programming offered in 2014,” continued Prenger. The value of each scholarship will be over $200.00 for each participant. In addition, each “Angel” elementary school will be invited to send its entire fourth grade student population to a TFTNWA Fourth Grade Field Day at the Tyson First Tee Learning Center in Lowell. Each Field Day will offer the students the opportunity to experience the Learning Center’s JB Hunt driving range, the General Mills three-hole golf course and the NWA Championship short game center. Field Day students, while being introduced to golf, also participate in educational exercises matching the Fourth Grade Core Curriculum standards in science, math and health/wellness. “Our ability to recruit ‘Angel’ elementary schools is enhanced by the relationship that has been established through The First Tee National School Program”, said TFTNWA Executive Director Mike Shea. “We have provided 56 elementary schools in 13 school districts throughout Northwest Arkansas with the National School Program’s teacher training and equipment to provide The First Tee golf and life skills experience programming in their Physical Education curriculum,” Shea continued. “As an organization, we are committed to insuring that all youth have the opportunity to take part in our Golf and Life Skills Experience programming,” Prenger emphasized, “and it is of particular importance to include those who cannot afford it.” TFTNWA is now actively recruiting individual, business and corporate investors through its Associate Member program. “Obviously, if we are successful, this is an expensive program and we can use all the support we can get,” says Prenger.