3 South Bay Grads Receive Scholarship Funds From Youth On Course

GILROY, CA — Rudy Vega never dreamed his golf swing would hook him up for college.

But that's precisely what happened in this Morgan Hill high school graduate's course of events when he signed up six years ago for Youth on Course, a nonprofit organization renowned for providing affordable golf access with $5 rounds that has selected 18 students to receive $258,000 in scholarship funds.

Being from Morgan Hill, it seemed a no brainer for the brainy student to play golf at Pebble Beach where the outfit is based. He turned it into a vision quest, now teaching golf to the up-and-coming youngsters.

Vega plans to use the $20,000 Youth On Course scholarship funding as one of 18 high school grads selected for four years learning criminal justice at Texas State University. The San Jose native wants to practice family or immigration law.

"It's amazing. It will be definitely be different," Vega said of moving to Texas next month. "I'll definitely be pushing for Youth On Course."

This year's Youth On Course scholarship funds mark the highest amount total provided to students to date.

Since the inception of the scholarship program in 2008, Youth on Course has awarded 240 students with scholarships totaling more than $1.6 million in financial support. The current scholarship retention rate is 94 percent.

Many of the 2019 recipients will attend the country’s most prestigious universities including Allegheny College, University of Notre Dame, UC Berkeley, UC Davis and University of Kansas, among others. The average GPA of this year’s winners is 4.2.

The other South Bay recipients joining Vega are listed as follows:

• Michael Wang from San Jose to attend U.C. Berkeley with a major in Computer Science
• Colin Stephen Raab from Redwood City to attend the University of Miami, Frost School of Music with a major in Music Engineering Technology

“Support of our members in their pursuit of a college education continues to be the most rewarding thing we do all year,” Vice President of Programs Michael Lowe said on behalf of Youth On Course. “The day-to-day focus is to provide our members with access to affordable golf, but our core purpose of providing youth with access to life-changing opportunities shines through our scholarship program, as education has the power to transform society.”

Born out of the Northern California Golf Association in 2006, Youth on Course subsidizes greens fees to remove cost as a barrier to entry for potential lifetime golfers. Operating in 31 states and Canada, more than 60,000 members have played more than 845,000 $5 rounds of golf, helping to generate $5.2 million in tee-time revenue reimbursed back to partner facilities.