When Lyons Township High School senior Gustavo Mojarro was about to open up a notification that would determine the next four years of his life, it could have gone well, or it could have been really devastating.
It went well.
On Dec. 13, he and some pals attended a basketball game and went to friend Patrick Cheney’s house. There, he hung out with people he had known for years. He received a text from another friend, Katie Lam, who said she received a Chick Evans Scholarship.
Mojarro, of La Grange Park, who also went through the Evans interview process, immediately called his mother, Ana Maria, who said he indeed received an envelope and she brought it over to Cheney’s house.
“All of my friends were there – friends I’ve known since the fourth grade,” Mojarro said. “She brings it. I open it and I’m nervous. If it’s a rejection, everyone is going to see that I didn’t make it.
“It was kind of do or die.”
It was “do.” Mojarro is an Evans Scholar.
“I was crying tears of joy and fulfillment all in the same moment,” he said. “And all my friends were there to see it. It was probably one of the best nights of my life, honestly.”
An estimated 380 caddies across the country received the scholarships, which are worth $125,000 over four years.
The Western Golf Association has been awarding these scholarships to caddies across the country since 1930.
“Each of these students has earned this life-changing opportunity through their hard work, dedication and outstanding character,” WGA Director and Illinois state co-chair Kim Schriver said in a news release. “They represent the very best of the Evans Scholars Program and we are proud to welcome them as they take the next step toward college and future leadership.”
Evans Scholars are assigned schools, and Mojarro found out March 13 that his next stop will be at the University of Illinois in Champaign, where he plans to study construction management.
It was another life-changing event that caused him to become a caddy at Chicago Highlands Club in Westchester.
His father, also named Gustavo, developed macular degeneration to the point last year where he could not see and not work any more.
“It definitely changed things around the household,” the younger Mojarro said. “My mom has to do more and I have to do more. I have two sisters and I have to provide more.”
This Evans Scholar windfall is huge for the family, but Mojarro’s story is far from over.
Like his father, the younger Mojarro also has macular degeneration and had been told by doctors that he would not be able to play sports.
So far, he has proven them wrong as he has participated in soccer, football and track.
He is a two-time qualifier to the Illinois High School Association Class 3A State Track meet and is looking forward to a third visit to Charleston this spring.
“Ever since I was growing up, some doctors said I wouldn’t even be able to kick a soccer ball or play any type of sports,” he said. “I’ve had my back against the wall my whole life.”
He is also living with the fact that any day he could wake up and experience the blindness that has affected his father.
“The truth is that it can go out at any time,” Mojarro said of his eyesight. “That’s a scary thought.
“I don’t fear it because there is nothing I can do when that day comes, so I plan to work as hard as I can until that day comes so my future family will not have the burden that was placed on me.”
Lyons Township had three other caddies earn scholarships from the Evans Foundation.
Lam and Terrance Carr won out of La Grange Country Club in La Grange, and Aleksandra Sajic earned one out of the Edgewood Valley Country Club in La Grange.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter.
