15 Mar 2023 NYO Scholarship to Support Two Athletes

Thanks to additional generous funders, two $1,500 scholarships will be awarded

In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic that forced NYO Games to go virtual and kept many of our athletes isolated, NYO Coach Kyle Worl wanted to encourage young people to stay active in the Games. So he created a scholarship as an incentive.

Together with the Eyak Corporation, the Worl family established the first NYO Games scholarship, which awarded $1,000 to two NYO athletes each.

This year, both the scholarship and the number of scholarship funders have grown: Trickster Company, Dr. Rosita Worl, and Dr. Charles Smythe join the Worl Family and the Eyak Corporation to offer two $1,500 scholarships to one male and one female senior high school NYO athlete.

“The scholarship started to encourage athletes to keep practicing and to provide an incentive to participate in the virtual statewide NYO,” explained Dawn Dinwoodie, another generous scholarship funder. “The larger goal is to provide opportunities to NYO athletes that are similar in other mainstream sports like skiing, basketball, etc. In the larger picture, we want NYO to be a mainstream sport in high school, and even at the university level.”

Last year’s scholarship recipient was Mia Anderson from Sitka, who matriculated at Brown University in fall 2022. Previous scholarship recipients are:

2001: Naatanii Mayo, Fairbanks (originally from Stevens Village)

2020: Ajey Moses, Chevak, and Bridget Savage, Unalaska

Any high school senior who actively participates with an NYO Games team and who plans to attend college or vocational school can apply for this scholarship. Applicants must submit a video or written statement on the theme “How NYO has impacted my life.”

The application deadline is April 10. Click here to download the application form and further instructions.