by Shelby Jacobson Hunt
Since the passing of our late PNWPGA Section President, Sean Fredrickson, the team at the Fredrickson Family Memorial Foundation has been hard at work to honor our dear friend with an opportunity to get more youth players into golf and expand diversity in our game and profession. The FREDDY initiative (Forming Relationships to Expand Diversity and Develop Youth) launched early this year. The goal is to reach players who may not have yet considered golf as a profession or even a hobby. We would like to introduce two more of our first-year participants in the last FREDDY Interns Spotlight of the season.
This season, the team at Seattle Golf Club selected Ally Hill as their FREDDY Intern to learn what the golf industry has to offer. Ally is from Bothell, WA and is currently a Sophomore at Innovation Lab High School. Her favorite studies are art, American Sign Language, and photography. She says she decided to attend this school because they focus on “collaboration and life preparation after high school.” Ally participates in the First Tee of Seattle after being introduced by a family friend and hopes to continue to develop her golf skills with her younger siblings and keep learning the game. We hope Ally continues her journey with golf and wish her the best for her upcoming school year!
Brad Ebberson and his team at Tualatin Country Club selected recent Tigard High School graduate Karina Barron as their first FREDDY Intern. Karina will be attending Western Oregon University this fall and majoring in Secondary Education with a minor in Bilingual Studies. Karina participated in a local mentoring group called Intercambio where younger students were matched with high school mentors to support student success on both ends. Karina will be the first-generation college student in her family and is “very proud to be a role model to my younger brother and cousins.” She is half-Mexican and half-Salvadorian and she hopes to visit both places and see her grandfather in El Salvador. Before this summer, Karina’s only golf experience was mini golf. Outside of her studies, Karina likes to bake, listed to music, and spend time with her family. We are happy to hear that Karina enjoyed her experience at Tualatin Country Club and hopes to return next season!