Staff Reports | Community Updates
Through a partnership between the Southwest Tennis Foundation and Programs for After School Success, also known as PASS, a Phoenix-area student has received a full-ride scholarship to Stanford University.
The Southwest Tennis Foundation and PASS, two nonprofit organizations focused on youth development and education, direct their resources toward low-income communities to support academic and college readiness. The partnership provided college preparation and application support that helped a local student earn a QuestBridge National College Match scholarship, according to a press release.
As a result of the partnership, Alma Preciado, an 18-year-old student at Apollo High School in Glendale, received support that enabled her to apply for the QuestBridge program, which connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with full-ride scholarships to selective colleges.
Preciado said the program played a significant role in her academic and personal development.
“Often people don’t see the underlying factors of what gets someone somewhere, and that was a big factor in the part of my life that is tennis-related,” Ms. Preciado said.
Ms. Preciado is an active participant in PASS and also coaches tennis through a Southwest Tennis Foundation grant. She plans to begin her studies at Stanford in the fall.
She was encouraged to apply for the scholarship by fellow PASS participant Saih Gonzalez, who received a QuestBridge scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023 and is now a sophomore double majoring in mathematics and computer science.
“Thank you to the Southwest Tennis Foundation for sponsoring PASS,” Ms. Gonzalez said. “It’s a good program, but not many people see it, and not many people take advantage of it. And so the Southwest Tennis Foundation, seeing (its importance) and giving us money, was impactful for my life.”
