If you or someone you know has been touched by Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and has a dependent child or grandchild who is pursuing higher education (two-year, undergraduate, graduate), Live Like Lou is pleased to invite them to submit an interest application for an Iron Horse Scholarship. This renewable, four-year scholarship provides up to $2,130 per semester for up to eight semesters for students pursuing a degree.
The scholarship value, $2,130, harkens Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played record and reminds our award recipients of all that Lou stood for in the face of ALS. The deadline for completed interest applications is Wednesday, February 22, 2023.
Finalists for Iron Horse Scholarships will be notified mid-March and asked to complete an additional application including a personal essay and a letter of recommendation. Iron Horse Scholarship recipients will be announced in April.
Past Iron Horse Scholarship Recipients
Since its inception, the Live Like Lou Foundation has awarded four Iron Horse Scholarships annually in honor of Lou Gehrig's #4 jersey for the Yankees. Learn more about our previous recipients:
Onward Awards
In 2021, Onward Awards were established to honor runners-up to Iron Horse Scholarships. Onward Awards come in varying amounts and are awarded from the pool of finalist applicants for Iron Horse Scholarships. ONWARD is inspired by Live Like Lou's founder, Neil Alexander, who lost his battle with ALS in 2015. It signifies looking ahead and forward, to a future without ALS.
Live Like Lou Iron Horse Scholarship Selection Committee
Live Like Lou is thankful to our Iron Horse Scholarship Selection Committee for their contributions to ensuring ALS families are supported and encouraged with opportunities to advance their child's education:
- Patrick Alexander: Patrick has been involved with the Iron Horse Scholarship committee since 2019 and has enjoyed being able to give back to other children and caregivers of ALS patients. His involvement with supporting ALS families started when his parents founded Live Like Lou in 2012, following his father's diagnosis. He is a current first-year at American University
- Evan Campa: a friend of Live Like Lou in Nashville. Evan is a mom of two and was diagnosed with ALS in 2018 at the age of 37.
- Greyson Geiler: treasurer of the Live Like Lou Board of Trustees and chair of the Iron Horse Scholarship Selection Committee.
- Anthony Gonzalez: a Phi Delta Theta (Lou Gehrig's Fraternity!) from Seton Hall. Anthony is an involved Live Like Lou and Hope Loves Company volunteer who works for Tiffany & Co.
- Cullen Kyte: a Phi Delta Theta from Chapman University, Cullen is the son of an ALS warrior who passed in 2014. He is a past Live Like Lou scholarship recipient and has served on the committee since 2019. Currently, Cullen works as a Revenue Operations Manager at Fivetran.com.
- David Martin: David is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. If everything goes as planned, he will start residency training in psychiatry in July of 2023. He lives outside Madison with his wife, Eilis, a marriage and family therapist. David was the first recipient of the Iron Horse Scholarship and continues to fight against ALS in memory of his dad, Jim.
- Kylan Morris: Kylan's mom is the late Sandy Morris, a fierce ALS warrior and prominently known for leading the team that founded the Morris ALS Principles. Kylan has been an active advocate in the ALS community since her mother's diagnosis in 2018 and is currently co-leading a team to carry out Sandy's high-priority projects to fix broken areas of ALS Land - their current project is the ALS Clinic Survey. Kylan raised over $20,000 for Project ALS by running the NYC Marathon in 2022 in honor of her mom who passed away in August.
- Jodi O'Donnell-Ames: founder of Hope Loves Company, whose mission is to provide emotional and educational support to children and young adults who have or had a loved one battling ALS, as well as author, speaker, and empowerment coach.
- Jack Silva: an ALS advocate and co-chair of the legislative affairs committee for I AM ALS. He works in technology in Silicon Valley.