Sandy Hook shooting survivor who lost his sister presented with surprise scholarship at Rangers game
A survivor of the Sandy Hook school shooting who lost his sister in the tragedy received a big surprise in a huge arena last week. Isaiah Márquez-Greene took the ice at Madison Square Garden, where he met New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, who handed him a college scholarship
Márquez-Greene, 18, thought he was getting a jersey signed by Trouba, of whom he said he has been a fan since the hockey star played for the Winnipeg Jets. Trouba signed his jersey — then asked Márquez-Greene to take a seat, because he had something to tell 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.
Márquez-Greene will attend University of Connecticut's Special Program in Law, which allows incoming undergraduates to declare their interest in law and then receive special support in college to prepare for law school.
Trouba also gave Márquez-Greene his phone number, saying he wanted to attend his law school graduation.
Márquez-Greene's family runs the Ana Grace Project, a foundation in honor of his younger sister, who died at age 6 during the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. Twenty-six people died at the school – 20 children and six adults. Márquez-Greene, who also attended Sandy Hook, was just 8 years old at the time.
On the Facebook page for the project, which focuses on professional development and training for trauma counseling, Márquez-Greene's mom wrote about the scholarship.
"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.
