A great surprise was given to a Sandy Hook shooting survivor who lost his sister in the incident last week in a gigantic arena. At Madison Square Garden, Jacob Trouba, the captain of the New York Rangers, gave Isaiah Márquez-Greene a scholarship for college.
The 18-year-old Márquez-Greene believed he was getting a signed jersey from Trouba because he has been a fan of the hockey player ever since he played for the Winnipeg Jets. After inking Márquez-Greene’s shirt, Trouba invited him to take a seat because he needed to talk to him.
“I know your story, I feel for you, you’re an amazing human,” he said, asking Márquez-Greene what he wanted to do.
“I want to be a lawyer,” he replied.
Trouba then presented Márquez-Greene with a scholarship funded by the Garden of Dreams Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with MSG to help young people achieve their dreams.
Isaiah: You’re our inspiration.
We can’t wait to see you right back here after Troubs watches you graduate law school. pic.twitter.com/GUU8FhQHFM
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 14, 2023
Márquez-Greene will enroll in the Special Program in Law at the University of Connecticut, which enables incoming college freshmen to declare their interest in law and then receive specialized assistance in college to prepare for law school.
Trouba stated that he intended to attend Márquez-Greene’s law school graduation and gave him his phone number.
The Ana Grace Project is a nonprofit organization maintained by Márquez-Greene’s family in memory of his younger sister, Ana, who passed away at the age of 6 in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newton, Connecticut, in 2012. Twenty children and six adults perished in the school, totaling 26 fatalities. Márquez-Greene, who went to Sandy Hook as well, was just 8 years old.
Márquez-Greene’s mother posted about the scholarship on the project’s Facebook page, which focuses on professional growth and training for trauma counseling.
“I still have no words to describe this. I am in shock. Basically, we turned down a lot of schools because it would have meant so much debt. I didn’t want that for him. And I didn’t want it for me,” she wrote. “Saying no to a child’s first choice is hard. But God had this in store.”
The Garden of Dreams Foundation not only awarded Márquez-Greene with a scholarship, but also provided fifteen $60,000 awards to students, according to the post.
