Holyoke’s Dante Whitley was one of six Massachusetts seniors that received a college scholarship from Boston Celtics forward Grant Williams.
Williams partnered with the organization MENTOR and formed a group mentoring program with young men of color across Massachusetts in 2020. The six participants were freshmen at the time. They met with Williams for monthly hour-long Zoom sessions throughout the pandemic and have gone to Celtics games, bowling and other events.
The group was presented with $2,000 scholarship checks during a celebration dinner held by Williams and his mother at Del Frisco’s. That amount was doubled by an anonymous donor to reach $4,000 per person.
Whitley will attend Holyoke Community College.