Westchester Evans Scholars (Left to Right) : Enzo Vera, Damian Capistran and Michael Arteaga. Photo courtesy of Western Golf Association.

Four Westchester high school students have been awarded a prestigious full housing and tuition grant, thanks to their golf caddie jobs.

Four youths have been awarded the Westchester Evans Scholarship, a prestigious full housing and tuition college grant offered to golf caddies at local courses. The Evans Scholarship is valued at more than $125,000 over four years.

Westchester Evans Scholars are chosen based on a strong caddie record, excellent academics, financial need, and outstanding character. Candidates must meet the qualifications of both the Western Golf Association’s Evans Scholars Foundation and the Westchester Golf Association Caddie Scholarship Fund.

Michael Arteaga of New Rochelle, a senior at New Rochelle High School, caddied at Winged Foot GC. He says his parents, who immigrated from Mexico, instilled the importance of education in him at a young age. In the fall, he will begin college at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD, where he plans to study finance.

“During one of my first rounds at Winged Foot, I caddied for a bank executive who inspired me to study the stock market and the economy,” Arteaga says. “He also told me about his humble beginnings and that I could get everything I wanted in life if I put my mind to it and worked hard.”

Damian Capistran, also a senior at New Rochelle High who caddied at Winged Foot, will attend Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, where he plans to study mechanical engineering.

“The same determination I used to succeed as a caddie will help me become a successful mechanical engineer,” he says.

George Kane of Trumbull, CT, attended Fairfield College Prep and caddied at Country Club of Fairfield. He is currently a freshman studying communications at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, and has been awarded the Westchester Evans Scholarship for three years.

“Caddying improved my work ethic and motivated me to chase my goals,” he says. “Every time I didn’t want to scale the final hill on the 18th hole or run up to a green with the bags on my back to pull the pin, I reminded myself how badly I wanted to earn the Evans Scholarship.”

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Enzo Vera of Greenwich, CT, is a senior at Brunswick School and caddies at Greenwich Country Club. In addition to holding three other jobs, Vero started caddying to financially help his single mother. In the fall, he will begin college at Penn State University in State College, PA, where he plans to study business.

“Caddying has been a crucial part of making me reliable, independent and resourceful,” he says. “As I look to my future, I will use what I have learned on the golf course to chase my goals.”

“We are excited to partner with the Evans Scholarship Fund to broaden the scholarship opportunities for our local caddies,” says John Connor, president of the Westchester Golf Association Caddie Scholarship Fund. “This is an incredible achievement for the recipients whose lives will be transformed by this amazing program.”

Currently, a record 1,100 caddies are enrolled at 22 universities across the nation as Evans Scholars, and more than 11,800 caddies have graduated as Evans Scholars since the program was founded by famed Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr.