Los Banos High grad using Junior Giants scholarship to help pay way at Sacramento State
.jpeg "Recent Los Banos High graduate Samantha Jones earned a $5,000 scholarship from the San Francisco Junior Giants program in 2015 that will help her as she attends Sacramento State this fall.")
Samantha Jones has been playing or volunteering as a coach with the San Francisco Junior Giants program in Los Banos since she was 5.
So for Samantha, it’s been odd not heading to the ballpark for games when she wakes up.
Her father, Noah, has been commissioner of the Junior Giants program in Los Banos for almost two decades. It’s a free non-competitive youth summer program. Samantha and her younger brother Grant were introduced to baseball through the program.
“The program has always been a big part of our community,” Samantha said. “My dad being a commissioner, we’ve been a part of Junior Giants for a long time. A couple years ago we won the Buster Posey Makeover, which really brought our community together.”
Samantha even won the Harmon and Sue Burns Scholarship through the Junior Giants in 2015 that will help her as she begins college at Sacramento State University this fall. The scholarship is valued at $5,000.
Samantha, 17, started played when she was 5 years old and played until she was in eighth grade. For the past four years, Samantha has volunteered as a coach, even coaching her younger brother.
Samantha said the scholarship will help with tuition and books.
Sports have always been a big part of Samantha’s life. She competed in multiple sports during her four years at Los Banos High School.
What she liked about the Junior Giants program is it gave her an opportunity to meet new kids.
“I think it’s cool to see kids get involved in the free program,” Samantha said. “Kids get excited about reading or eating healthy because they want to win a prize.”
The Junior Giants program has been more than just baseball for the Samantha and her family.
When Samantha’s little sister Sidney was born with an illness, the family was forced to make many trips to hospitals. Sidney died when she was 3 months old and the Jones family was flooded with cards and condolences from people in their Junior Giants family.
“It meant a lot,” Samantha said. “I was only 9 years old at the time, but I remember thinking here is this big baseball franchise and they were being super supportive of people in the community.”
The show of support for the family was a big reason Samantha wanted to continue volunteering as a coach after she was done playing in the program.
“It pushed me to want to do more and to give back,” Samantha said.
