Fever Fans "Catch the Stars" and Scholarships

By Michael O'Neill: IN Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, June 17, 2007

Photos by Sue Wilden

INDIANAPOLIS- Despite being in the midst of a stretch of playing eight games in fourteen nights, Fever forward Tamika Catchings was able to take some time out for the benefit of local high school graduates.

Catchings’ scholarship foundation, Catch the Stars Foundation, Inc., held its annual Scholar reception last Sunday night prior to the Indiana Fever’s game against the New York Liberty. Eight finalists (four young men and four young women) were selected from a pool of students nominated by athletic directors of local public high schools. The finalists were selected through a wide variety of qualifying metrics, including grade point average (all nominees averaged at least a 3.0), various honors awarded, and a mandatory essay. All of the nominees have been accepted to local colleges or universities and will be studying in a wide variety of fields.

In a ceremony before tip-off, Robert Napier and Reedie Garrett were selected as the 2007 Scholar Athletes. Napier attended George Washington Community High School and will be studying while Garrett is a 2007 graduate of Arsenal Technical High School. They will each receive a $2,500 scholarship to the schools that they will be attending in the fall.

All nominees were invited to the Fever game and received a gift package, including Fever T-shirts and an official WNBA basketball signed by Catchings, who was excited about the changes in made in the second year of the scholarship program. “This is the second year we’ve done the scholar athletes’ program, and this year we wanted to tie it into them coming to game and them getting honored and being able to get recognized. It was really cool to see the girls and the guys out there that had put in four years as a scholar athlete.”

The rest of the nominees were Brandon Powe (Northwest High School), Michael Stevens (T.C. Howe Academy), Candace Tenee Britten (Arlington High School), Ferdaws Ali Chamem (Northwest high School), Danielle Lynley Corpuz (T.C. Howe Academy), and Crystal Killebrew (George Washington Community High School).