CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has announced the winners of the Willie Bradshaw Memorial Endowed Scholarship. The Willie Bradshaw Endowed Scholarship provides $750 of scholarship support to an outstanding African American, American Indian/Alaska Native and/orAsian Pacific Islander American, or Hispanic American student-athlete participating on a sanctioned varsity team at an NCHSAA member school. In addition to the $750 to each student, one male and one female recipient will receive an additional $1000 award at the NCHSAA’s Annual Meeting held on Thursday, May 5 at the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
This year there are ten winners from across the state: Khadijah Daniels from D.H. Conley High School, Kleo Torres & Khalil Gary from Southeast Raleigh High School, Dametrah Lewis from Union Pines High School, Germaine McNeil from Whiteville High School, Rachel Salinas from West Davidson High School, Christian Ritter from Eastern Randolph High School, Demetrius Hill from Kings Mountain High School, Jalyn Ramseur from Newton-Conover High School, and Jose Robles from North Henderson High School.
Khadijah Daniels is a senior at D.H. Conley, a basketball and track team member has been competitive in and out of the athletic arena during her four years at D.H. Conley. She described herself saying, “I like to help people in any way I can, even if it is just putting a smile on their face.” She hopes to attend Queens University where she wants to study Physical Therapy.
Kleo Torres is a senior at Southeast Raleigh High School competing in indoor and outdoor track. She was all-conference in both sports for each year she has competed with the outdoor track season still outstanding. Torres enjoys action movies and hanging out with friends. A remarkable story of perseverance and determination, Torres talked about her high school career by saying, “Not many students can say they attended four different schools and lived in four different homes.” She continued, “Everyone has a background, and mine was bumpy. It’s not my background that is important to me, it is my progress.” Torres hopes to attend University of Kentucky and study Digital Communications & Multimedia.
Dametrah Lewis is a senior at Union Pines High School planning to attend Belmont Abbey College and study Sports Management. She has lived in Washington state as well as spending four years in Germany prior to her family coming to North Carolina. After her step-father introduced her to golf, she fell in love with the sport, quitting basketball to focus on her golf game. The commitment paid off as she committed to play golf at Belmont Abbey.
Christian Ritter is a senior at Eastern Randolph participating in volleyball and basketball during her time there. With mom as a teacher, Ritter has been driven to perform in the classroom where she holds a 3.89 GPA. She has taken AP and Honors classes every year while playing two or three sports to prepare for college. She was conference player of the year in volleyball her senior year. Ritter plans to UNC-Charlotte in the fall.
Jalyn Ramseur is a senior at Newton-Conover High School who plans to attend NC Central University to study Psychology. During her time at Newton-Conover she participated in volleyball and basketball, where she was given the Kay Yow Award and named to the Catawba Valley Classic All-Tournament Team her junior year. She has been active in community service, helping with Toys for Tots each year of her high school career among many other charitable endeavors, and Ramseur has participated in the Honors Choir for seven years.
Rachel Salinas is a senior at West Davidson High School where she participated in varsity tennis all four years. During her time at West Davidson, Salinas was named All-Conference in her junior and senior year as well as finishing as the Runner-Up for Conference Player of the Year her senior season. During her junior year she began peer helping at the local elementary school and people began to notice a special talent for working with children. She enjoys crafting and plans to attend Coastal Carolina University to study Marine Science.
Khalil Gary is a senior at Southeast Raleigh High School ticketed for George Mason University in the fall where he plans to study Criminal Justice. As a member of the Men’s Cross Country team and Track & Field, he has been on the Greater Neuse Conference Academic All-Conference team all four years, while earning All-Conference honors in each of his final three seasons. As a junior Gary won the NCHSAA 4A State Championship as a member of the Bulldogs 4 X 800 relay team. He spends spare time with family, roller skating, playing X-box or working as a Wake Forest Police Explorer.
Germaine McNeil is a senior at Whiteville High School where he been a member of the JROTC Program as well as the basketball squad. He is a JROTC Executive Officer, Drill commander, Raider Captain and Colorguard Commander as well as senior Captain of the basketball team. McNeil described himself saying, “My short term goal is to be better than I was yesterday. Everyday I strive to do my best in anything that I do.” A young man that has battled through many challenges including a birth condition called complex syndactyly, which causes webbing of the fingers and toes, McNeil underwent surgery at 6th months of age to fix the fingers, leaving some bent inward at the tip while costing him almost all of his left middle finger. It hasn’t stopped him from reaching his goals as McNeil plans to attend North Carolina A&T and study Physical Education.
Demetrius Hill is a Kings Mountain High School senior headed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he plans to study Chemistry. Two year member of the Mountaineer varsity basketball program, Hill was a part of the 2015-2016 South Mountain Athletic Conference Championship team his senior season. He is an active member of Ebenezer Baptist Church and the youth ministry and choir. He is very environmentally conscious and said, “One of the most important actions that I have taken is to learn about simple practices that will support the preservation of our natural resources, sharing these practices with my family, friends and classmates. I’ve learned that most people will support sustainability efforts if they are simply informed about them.”
Jose Robles is a senior at North Henderson High School where he participated in Cross Country and outdoor track. He was named the team captain for each sport for his senior season. A member of the local Boys & Girls Club, Robles has volunteered over 500 hours of community service through the organization during his four years at North Henderson. Robles was born in Mexico and his family moved to the U.S. when he was two. He said, “I have been able to study and challenge myself in school, and although English is not my first language, the barrier has not been a handicap.” It certainly has not been as Jose was elected senior class president and hopes to become a cardiologist. He hopes to attend UNC-Chapel Hill and study Pre-Medicine.
The Willie Bradshaw Memorial Endowed Scholarship is in honor of Durham-native Willie Bradshaw, an NCHSAA Hall of Fame inductee in 1995 and National High School Hall of Fame inductee in 2010. Bradshaw was an outstanding athlete at Hillside High School, playing on the undefeated 1943 football team that went untied and unscored upon. He went on to North Carolina College (now NC Central University) and then on to pitch professionally for several Negro League teams. He became the first African-American city or county athletic director when he took over for the Durham City School system until his retirement in 1992.