Yankees pitcher Marcus Stroman is stepping up for two Bronx teens by awarding $25,000 scholarships to help kickstart their college journeys.
The recipients are Elani Wyatt, who graduated from Equality Charter High School, and Geurys Florentino of Monsignor Scanlan High School. They are both 18.
“I was so overwhelmed with happiness. I never expected this for myself. Me and my family were basically all crying together,” Wyatt, who will study architecture at The New York Institute of Technology this fall, told The Post.
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The pitcher said the scholarship recipients, Wyatt and Florentino, walked with the same determination and drive that fueled his dream during his upbringing in Medford, NY.
“When you put in the hours around something you’re passionate about, you end up chasing a goal that will be able to give back to you for your whole life and doing something you love,” Stroman told The Post.
“I really don’t believe in overnight success. You truly have to find what you’re passionate about and put in the work and the hours in order to be successful,” he said, attributing his work ethic to his father, a police detective in Suffolk County. “My dad had me working way more than any other kids. My confidence comes from the work.”
Stroman’s determination earned him a scholarship to Duke University in 2009, which he chose over an offer from the Washington Nationals. His Height Doesn’t Measure Heart (HDMH) Foundation has pledged $200,000 in scholarships over the next five years, alongside a $50,000 contribution from Bold.org.
Bronx high school seniors with a minimum 3.0 GPA were invited to apply by submitting an essay and video sharing their college aspirations.
Wyatt, the daughter of an electrician and a medical biller, shared with The Post how she transformed from a struggling “class clown” in her earlier school years to earning a 3.6 GPA in her senior year.
Like Stroman, she credits her success to having supportive parents who pushed her to excel.
“In elementary school I was barely passing — I just made it by a thread,” she told The Post. “My mom made me realize [the longterm consequence of] my actions and I said, ‘Oh my gosh. Colleges and high schools are going to be looking at my academic records and I need to really step it up to show I want to be successful.”
With her father’s tutoring and after-school help, Wyatt boosted her GPA from 2.6 to 3.6 and earned a spot in the National Honor Society during her senior year. While excelling academically, she also mentored children at PS 095 and volunteered with the Acacia Network.
Florentino, who grew up in the challenging Edenwald Projects, avoided negative influences by dedicating himself to varsity basketball, baseball, and volleyball throughout high school.
“Coming from a single-parent household, the ability to pursue my education and take a little bit of hardship off my family is a blessing that I do not take for granted,” said Florentino, who will attend Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., studying business administration and sports management.
Stroman credits the determination and drive he developed as a child for shaping the person he is today.
“There’s never a moment where I feel like I should have done more in my pre-game work than I’ve done — whether its in the weight room, mentally, physically or emotionally,” he said. “When I’m on the mound, I’m pretty free knowing that there’s nothing [more] I could have done at that point.”
Despite his own success, Stroman has no plans to pressure his 2-year-old son, Kai, to follow in his footsteps.
“I don’t see him playing baseball. I won’t push sports on him. I don’t know if athletics are going to be his thing,” Stroman said. “He gravitates towards painting, towards piano, towards music. He’s going to be what I was meant to be.”
