The National Wrestling Hall of Fame Florida chapter Next Level Scholarship Program was established in 2020. The premise behind the scholarship was for the Florida chapter to be able to offer our student athletes a helping hand as they choose to take wrestling with them to the next level. The scholarship is available for any senior student athlete who is wrestling in any division at the next level. Whether its NCWA, NAIA, NCAA Divison 1,Division 2 or Division 3, it doesn’t matter what level they will be competing, if they are taking the sport of wrestling with them to the next level they are eligible.
Each athlete boy and girl are required to go through a rigorous application process that includes multiple pieces of information that need to be provided, as well as a 300-500 word essay on a specific topic about wrestling. The purpose of the Next Level Scholarship Program is to highlight the early accomplishments of Florida high school wrestlers in hopes that it will inspire them and others to continue to achieve at the highest levels in college, career, and military service.
Any senior boy or girl wrestler who would like to apply for this $1000 scholarship must have an unweighted GPA of 3.0 or higher and complete a minimum 75 hours community service. They must provide one academic reference letter from a teacher. They must provide one personal reference letter from an adult of their choice They must provide one character reference letter from their principal or assistant principal of their respective schools. And as already mentioned, they must submit a 300-500 word essay on a specific about wrestling.
Past recipients of the Next Level Scholarship are wrestling for University of Iowa, Oklahoma State, UPenn, Keiser University, Southeastern University, Liberty, Life University etc. Seniors wishing to apply for this scholarship can do so by filling out the application which can be found on the website for the NWHOF Florida Chapter.
The Florida Wrestling Room [TheFloridaWrestlingRoom.com] was honored to be chosen as one of the presenters at the 2024 FHSAA State Championships in Kissimmee, Florida. Each year one male and one female wrestler is chosen to be the recipients of the Next Level Scholarship. This year Sawyer Bartelt from South Dade HS was chosen as the male recipient and Gabby Tedesco of Lake Gibson HS was chosen as the female recipient. Each student-athlete will be awarded $1000 to use toward their tuition at the college of their choice.
Thank you to Nick Desola with the Law Office of Kleinman and Lessmann and Jenmarco.com as they are two of the businesses making the Next Level Scholarship Program possible through their generous contributions.
Jeff Malavsky, is the development director at the NWHOF Florida chapter. He is always looking for new businesses to give the opportunity to help sponsor this scholarship for many, many years to sustain the Florida chapter being able to provide this money for these student athletes. If there are businesses that would like to be involved, they can contact Jeff Malavsky at [email protected].