As part of the academic aspect of the annual Basketball Academy two major scholarships are awarded to girls and boys participating in the event held last month, the $1,000 James Thomas Hubbard Memorial Scholarship and the $500 Downtown Locker Room Scholarship.
Digital Harbor's Kirsten Gaither-McDonald and Lake Clifton's Aaron Parks received the Hubbard scholarships while Aberdeen's Nia Alleyne and St. Frances's Miles Code received the Downtown Locker Room awards.
The Hubbard scholarships were created by his family to honor the a senior girl and boy "making the greatest contribution to his or her team in terms of overall excellence in participation, performance and leadership while maintaining a minimum 2.5 GPA."
The Downtownn Locker Room scholarship honors the players with the highest cumulative GPAs one each team in the tournament. Student-athletes are nominated for both awards by their coaches.
"The academic portion is the basis of the academy and we use basketball as a carrot to influence the students of the importance of seeing the academic piece as well as basketball as part of their futures," Basketball Academy co-chair Dr. Warren Hayman said in a news release. "The scholarships are important because they re-enforce The Basketball Academy theme – academics plus athletics equals a win, win combination!"
The Most Valuable Players from each team are also honored with trophies. This year's winners:
Girls
Bri Jones, Aberdeen
A'Lexus Harrison, Digital Harbor
Michelle Wright, Dunbar
Jasmine Smith, Poly
Tiffany Davis, Randallstown
Janelle Lane, Woodlawn
Boys
Omari George, City
Ronald Epps, Digital Harbor
Done Pretlow, Dunbar
Thomas Dillard, Edgewood
Isiah Tripp, Edmondson
Victor Blakey, Friendly
Aaron Parks, Lake Clifton
Derrick Colter, Largo
Tyson Smith, Milford Mill
Jalen Clarke, New Town
DeShawnte Lloyd, Owings Mills
Aquille Carr, Patterson
Garrett Burkhead, Patterson Mill
Jerell Cooke, Randallstown
Daquan Cook, St. Frances