Venezie Sporting Goods & Apparel Announces Scholarships

Venezie Sporting Goods & Apparel is starting a scholarship for students in both Ellwood City and Riverside School Districts to start.

Vanessa Venezie, operations manager of Venezie Sporting Goods & Apparel and the assistant girls varsity basketball coach for Lincoln High School, came up with the idea of starting a scholarship all while sitting at her brother Luca Botti’s graduation ceremony from LHS this past June.

“While sitting at my brother’s graduation I realized there weren’t many scholarships for athletes who also excelled in the classroom,” Venezie said. “I remembered when I was in school there was a scholarship offered for students who participated in a sport each season and held a 3.5 GPA, and I wanted to bring it back!”

Students who will qualify for the scholarship will be graduating in the class of 2019, have participated in athletics in grades 9-12 and held a 3.5 or higher GPA.

“Sports and academics help kids grow and mature in so many ways,” Venezie said. “Confidence, responsibility, commitment, trust, determination and accountability are just some of the qualities they develop from focusing on both, and that should be rewarded.”

Each scholarship is initially valued at $500, but fans in the community can grow that figure by purchasing apparel that is in support of the scholarship.

Each school has been setup with an online store, in which, 10 percent of each purchase will be added to the scholarship. These are open right now to the public and will close Friday August 31^st at 11:59pm.  Click here for: Ellwood City Fan Gear Online Store and click here for: Riverside Fan Gear Online Store.

Fans who want to donate also have an extra incentive, they not only get the chance to support and grow their local scholarship, but they also have several chances to win Steelers tickets! For more details click here.

Venezie Sporting Goods hopes to expand their scholarship program to include additional schools in the 2019-2020 school year.