As many of you know, I am so proud to be a board member of AQUAS – Assistance for Qualified Underprivileged Athletic Students. (Details about AQUAS are below).
I want to tell you about what one of our AQUAS students is accomplishing in her young life.
Meet Kaitlyn Goertz, a basketball player from Marshall High School in San Antonio and now a Junior playing for the Mountaineers of Schreiner University. She is an amazing young woman who loves helping and mentoring young students in middle schools. But that’s not all….she is in charge of coordinating new student orientation at her college, and yet with all that, she still found time to learn knitting and now participates with a group that knits products for the homeless and less fortunate.
Now you can see why that for the second year in a row, Kaitlyn, a mathematics major, won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Character & Community Award. We are proud beyond words that this AQUAS scholar-athlete sets the bar as high as she has. Thank-you Kaitlyn Goertz.
About AQUAS: Assistance for Qualified Underprivileged Athletic StudentsAQUAS is a 501 ©(3) non-profit organization, registered in Texas and South Carolina. Ourmission is to identify, sponsor and mentor underprivileged high school scholar-athletes to secure athleticand/or academic scholarships so they can achieve a college education. There is no cost to the student orfamily for our services.
AQUAS volunteers work with counseling and athletic staff at various high schools to identify
potential candidates. The process is competitive and candidates must be approved by an AQUAS
Selection Committee. The Committee assessment includes consideration of their community service,
leadership traits and time management abilities – as well as academic and athletic performance. The
program is not seeking NCAA Division I “blue chip” athletes, but rather to focus on those who may be in
a “minor” sport and are competitive at a lower level (NAIA, Div 2/3). There is significant funding available
from these institutions for such student-athletes. But without promotion, they are often overlooked and
miss the opportunity to go to college. This is where AQUAS can help.
With the help of private donors, AQUAS, in partnership with College Promoters of San Antonio,
funds a professional video and marketing effort to showcase our candidate’s athletic capability. The
video and an academic/athletic resume are distributed to college coaches throughout the nation. In
addition, AQUAS volunteers follow up by phone with the coaches and counselors. AQUAS provides
counseling for the students in responding to various college inquiries/offers and in the selection of a good
match for them. Since its inception, AQUAS has helped 17 students receive more than $500,000 in
scholarships – all for just $2,500 per student. That’s right, a donation of just $2,500 per student enables
AQUAS to successfully promote an underprivileged athletic student and help them secure scholarships
so they can achieve a college education – one they more than likely would not otherwise achieve.
AQUAS was started in San Antonio in 2009 and has successfully matched 17 scholar-athletes
from with college scholarships and opportunities with 10 additional enrollees in our program this year.
AQUAS was expanded to the Low Country S.C. in the spring of this year 2014 and is currently promoting
3 candidates for college after their graduation from high school in 2015:
Choral Linhart – Academic Magnet – Basketball
Simone Mitchell – Berkeley – Soccer
Kayla Wright – St Johns – Track Thrower. If you are interested in helping AQAUS identify potential candidates, or help donate your time or
money, we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you and answer any questions you have. Phone: (210) 912-7827 http://www.aquastx.com