2023–2024
Scholarship Recipients
A Beacon of Light and Hope
Pursuing education is a roadmap for recovery after traumatic injury. It is a chance to pursue a new chapter, offering student-athletes who are driven and competitive by nature, a sense of purpose, independence, and well-being. Completing a degree and excelling in the classroom is up to the individual—a path forward. We welcome you to meet our current recipients and learn more about their triumphant stories.
“The UGA Chapel bell is where students go to celebrate personal victories."
Nadia Burns
University of Georgia
“The UGA Chapel bell is where students go to celebrate personal victories. Because of the ripple effect Swim With Mike has created, I get the opportunity to ring it in celebration of being at this school and in honor of everything Swim With Mike has achieved over the last 40 years!”
Read More“The Swim With Mike Scholarship is the keystone that is allowing me to pursue my goals, receive an education, and attend Harvard Law School."
Ian Malesiewski
Harvard University
“The Swim With Mike Scholarship is the keystone that is allowing me to pursue my goals, receive an education, and attend Harvard Law School. As a new member of the Swim With Mike family, I hope to carry-on Mike Nyeholt’s selfless legacy by using my platform to give back and create opportunities for other individuals with disabilities.”
Read More"It is an incredible honor to be selected as one of the recipients of the Swim With Mike Scholarship and to be accepted into their family. It is humbling to know that people I have never met have generously donated to my future."
Matt Hylen
Bridgewater State University
"This scholarship carries with it more meaning than just helping our family afford a college education, it means I get to be part of something bigger. I get to pursue my dreams and I get to pay it forward and help other kids pursue their dreams. If my life now was the ocean the day after a huge storm, this Swim With Mike scholarship is the rock that is starting me off on my adventure. I don't know where it will take me, and I can't see how far the ripples go, but I know it will be endless."
Read More"Because of my scholarship, I can focus all my attention on academics and swimming."
Jack O'Neil
University of Wyoming
"As a swimmer, I experience the ripple effect every day. One small positive action can set off a continuation of much larger positive actions within myself or my teammates. As a Swim with Mike scholarship winner, I am committed to creating a ripple effect within my team and the NCAA. As the first swimmer with a disability on the University of Wyoming Men’s Swim Team, I hope to have a greater impact on the inclusion of disabled athletes across the NCAA. I may be the first, but I hope to create a ripple effect so large that in the future, all teams are recruiting disabled athletes and the NCAA will create equal competition opportunities for those athletes. Because of my scholarship, I can focus all my attention on academics and swimming, and I am so thankful for the support from Swim With Mike."
Read MoreEducation is the Great Equalizer:
A Path Forward for Student-Athletes to
Realize New Opportunities
The impact of an educational scholarship is two-fold: it develops the individual and it illuminates a new path after a catastrophic, life-altering event. Beginning an undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral program levels the playing field and allows scholarship recipients to reimagine their future and reshape themselves as individuals. The positive energy and challenges faced in the classroom builds self-esteem, self-reliance, and the ability to achieve great success as an independent person. The university experience offers the fundamental building blocks to pursue professional passions, stimulate innovation, and move their life forward.
As student-athletes, Swim with Mike Foundation scholarship recipients are challenged to push through life-altering obstacles and serve as pillars of courage and hope for those that follow in their wake.
By supporting a campaign, you are enabling current recipients to ride the wave of the Ripple Effect where they can raise money to help future student-athletes achieve success through an academic scholarship.
