Nelson College Scholarship Recipients React to Award

01.12.2024HS Boys

GRR caught up with the new Nelson College Scholarship recipients JW Sarkees and Connor Bender.

The two will join the New Zealand school to study and play rugby in April and stay through the Northern Hemisphere summer. It will be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience for both.

Sarkees plays for the Greer 76ers in South Carolina and has suited up for Eagle Impact Rugby Academy. What he wants to do first of all is show he gets a lot of work done around the paddock.

"I'm super excited," he told GRR. "Rugby, it's a really big part of my life and I'm just playing whenever I can. I'm really, really hard working; I try and get what needs to be done done."

You can see more of the interview with JW Sarkess here:

Connor Bender, coincidentally, was subjected to GRR Editor Alex Goff's coaching as a freshman. Now a junior, he wants to embrace the opportunity to not only make himself better, but to bring something back to the St. Ignatius school program in Cleveland, Ohio.

"It's an amazing honor," Bender said. "Huge thanks to US Rugby Foundation, and obviously all people that work at Nelson College and [have] given me this opportunity to go forward and forward my rugby career and forward my academic career. [Ultimately] I want [my team] to be in a better place."

You can hear the full interview with Connor Bender here:

Learn more about US Rugby Foundation programs such as the Nelson College Scholarship, or other scholarships for HS rugby players going on to universities, go to USRugbyFoundation.org.

Nelson College Scholarship Recipients React to Award

Tags

Photo Galleries