Westside High School Tennis player makes history
“Amazing. Like, before my coaches brought it to me, I never knew what it was. So to know that not only I got it, but I was the first in my city. Like, that's just a wonderful feeling,” said Ja’Toria Sherman, Senior at Westside High School.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Over at Westside High School, Home of the Seminoles, one senior made history today as Ja’Toria Sherman was the proud recipient of a $6000 scholarship from the Southern Tennis Foundation.
This was the Foundation’s seventh year handing out the scholarships to ten different students across nine different states. Sherman was one out of 76 applicants and the first in Macon’s history to ever receive one.
“Amazing. Like, before my coaches brought it to me, I never knew what it was. So to know that not only I got it, but I was the first in my city. Like, that’s just a wonderful feeling,” said Sherman.
“The great thing about this, is it’s the first person from Macon, so that’s near and dear to my heart,” said Jaime Kaplan, Director of Development and Operations for the Southern Tennis Foundation.
“She really shines, Ja’Toria’s number two in her class here at Westside and been on her tennis team for three years, has great community service, and so the committee felt like she was deserving for one of these ten scholarships.”
To receive the scholarship, household income has to be no higher than $125,000 and the student has to have played on their high school tennis team for two years, play junior team tennis, be apart of the national junior tennis and learning after school program for two years, or be ranked in the top 500 USTA (United States Tennis Association) Southern.
Funds from the scholarship will be spread out at $1500 a year for four years paid directly to the recipient’s college as long as they maintain an average 3.0 GPA.
“It never hurts to try. You don’t have to be the best at anything,” said Sherman. “You just have to, you know, have passion and be dedicated and just apply yourself.”
“Tennis in general has taught me a lot not just on the court, but off the court. It’s kind of like a life scenario, but like playing out in front of you. Like, I play doubles, so I play with another person. So you’re not just playing singles. So it’s like in life, you got to lean on somebody.”
“The young student who wins this award does not necessarily have to play college tennis,” said Kaplan. “In fact, most of the people who get this do not play on an official college tennis team. They may play club tennis or just play tennis for fun. That’s the idea, is it’s a sport of a lifetime and it’s the world’s healthiest sport. So we just want these kids continuing to play no matter what level they play.”
This was also made possible by a partnership between Westside High School and the Macon-Bibb County Parks and Recreation Department as part of their BUSTED (Building Up School Tennis Through Education) Program by meeting up with students once a week teaching them the basics of tennis to encourage them to join the team before the start of the season.
Sherman says she will continue playing tennis and will be going to Kennesaw State University to major in Elementary Education with a concentration in English. She wants to get her ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Certification as her end career goal is to teach English abroad in Japan through the JET (Japanese Exchange and Teaching) Program. Funds from Southern Tennis Foundation’s Scholarship will be used towards her housing.
