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Officials from the Wellspring Guardians (Richmond) and Light Eagles (Danville) homeschool athletic organizations recently presented Kentucky State University (KSU) Interim President Dr. Aaron Thompson $1,000 to establish a scholarship fund for homeschool students entering the University.

Wellspring Athletic Director Darrell Sandfoss said the partnership began in March when KSU hosted a basketball invitational for homeschool athletic organizations. Homeschool teams from around the state played at the Exum Center for a two-day invitational event.

“We want to bring focus to the homeschool community and this wonderful University sitting right here in Frankfort,” Sandfoss said.

Thompson said the seeds were planted for the event after discussions between himself, Sandfoss and Light Athletic Director David Fralix.

“It was a great invitational tournament,” Thompson said. “We had a lot of young people – high school students – on our campus that had a chance to tour KSU, and they bought into our campus. We even have some that are coming this fall.”

Thompson said the event was successful due to the hard work of many people and departments on campus.

“We have to thank people like George Baker and the security and parking staff, the athletic department, facilities, and the president’s office, working in conjunction with those units to make sure that we pull this off,” he said.

The scholarship, named the Guardian Homeschool Endowed Scholarship, will be open for annual contributions. Thompson and Wellspring officials say they hope the funds will be available for years to come as a result of this partnership. As for the invitational tournament, Thompson hopes it becomes an annual event.

“My hope is that Kentucky State can be a part of this event every year,” he said.