I’m completely blown away by the support from you guys! As always, feel free to email me if you have any comments, questions or content ideas!
I’m back from vacation, so let’s get it 💪🏻
Today’s read is 7 minutes ⏲️
Trending in the Kingdom: It’s gift SZN 🤑🎁
We’ve got another KZ leading UCF into the future. This time, it’s MacKenzie, not McKenzie.
Here’s the scoop: Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, just gifted $40 million to UCF, the largest financial donation in the university’s 58-year history. The school said the cash will “strengthen the university’s focus on fostering social mobility while developing the skilled talent needed to advance industry across our state and beyond.”
The gift was just some of the $2.7 billion that she and her husband, Dan Jewett, gave to 286 organizations across the country, a lot of which focus on social justice initiatives as well as arts and cultural institutions. In her blog post, Scott wrote that she, her husband and a band of researchers, administrators and advisors “are all attempting to give away a fortune that was enabled by systems in need of change.”
UCF was one of 30 colleges and organizations that received a gift and one of three in Florida (The others: FIU and Broward College). Scott didn’t directly say why she chose UCF, but her post said a research team looked for “2- and 4-year institutions successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved.”
What they’re saying 🗣️
“We are honored by Ms. Scott and Mr. Jewett’s trust and confidence in the University of Central Florida. Their transformational gift validates the work our faculty and staff do to foster student success and we are thankful these funds will enable us to increase our impact for generations of students. This unrestricted investment will accelerate our trajectory toward becoming the world’s leading public metropolitan research university and inspire others to invest in building a better future for our students and society.” — UCF President Alexander Cartwright
How will UCF use the money? The school said the funds would go towards scholarships, research, partnerships and closing the achievement gap.
👏 UCF thrives in providing access and opportunity. The university has a First Generation Program, which is geared towards one-on-one guidance for students whose parents didn’t earn a bachelor’s degree. Nearly one in five UCF students fall under that umbrella. President Cartwright was the first in his family to attend college.
- In 2019–20, more than 7,500 recipients of Pell grants, federal awards for low-income students, completed their bachelor’s degrees at UCF.
- Over the past 10 years, UCF’s 6-year graduation rates for Black and Hispanic students outpaced the national average.
- Education Reform Now ranked UCF №2 for social mobility impact, which was calculated by enrollment and graduation rates, default rates on student loans and the number of students paying down federal loans.
- UCF set new records for diversity last fall: 48.5 percent of students are minorities. UCF is also designated a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education.
Back in 2019, Scott said she would keep giving “until the safe was empty.“ The world’s wealthiest woman has now given away more than $8 million in less than a year, all while her net worth continues to grow.
Shout out to our friend J.P. Gilbert for this epic tweet on UCF’s $40M gift.
Gift SZN 💲 The funds have been flowing UCF’s way recently, especially to the athletic department. Since June 1, there’s been $605,000 in gifts to Championship Resources, the fundraising arm for UCF Athletics, a majority of that — a $500,000 donation — from ex-Knights Blake Bortles and Latavius Murray that will be used to renovate the Wayne Densch and sports medicine center.
Deeper Dive 🤿:
- How MacKenzie Scott Gave Away Nearly $6 Billion In A Year And Got Richer (Forbes)
- MacKenzie Scott Gives Away Another $2.74 Billion Even as Her Wealth Grows (New York Times)
- MacKenzie Scott Has Donated More Than $4 Billion In Last 4 Months (NPR)
Gus’ new Playoff pitch 🏆
The recruiting game has been raised at UCF. From a red-carpet type rollout to a 360-camera shoot and even a spontaneous drop in from Latavius Murry, the football coaching staff brought its A-game to “Bounce House Weekend” — one of the most anticipated recruiting hosting efforts in school history.
Fill me in: There were more than 30 prospects from the 2022 and 2023 class on campus this past weekend, making it one of the biggest recruiting weekends in recent memory.
There were 14 four-star recruits and multiple five-star prospects on campus at one time, a first for UCF, including defensive lineman Peter Woods, an Alabama native who’s ranked as the No. 2 recruit in the country for the 2023 class.
Where’s the ‘BOOM!’? The weekend was a huge success, but plenty of fans were agitated that not a single recruit committed to UCF while on the trip. Jason Beede of 247Sports writes that a Georgia linebacker “considered committing” over the weekend, but wants to visit one more school before deciding. Now, there’s rumors of silent commits or prospects that are waiting to announce until later on this fall, but that’s a lot of time for things to change.
The bigger-picture piece here is we got a small glimpse into how the 12-team playoff expansion news changes UCF’s ability to pitch recruits, and Gus took advantage of the timing.
Brandon Helwig of UCFSports.com spoke with Apopka (Fla.) four-star cornerback Nikai Martinez, who visited UCF twice in a span of a week. He dove into Malzahn’s pitch now that the Knights have a legitimate shot at a Playoff spot.
“He was basically telling me how he’s trying to make UCF a national championship team and all he needs is a few people to help him get started,” Martinez said. “Let’s take UCF where it’s supposed to be. He brought up the College Football Playoff expansion. Now that they’re expanding it, it will give UCF a chance to show they can play with the big dogs.”
Malzahn spoke to 247Sports last week ahead of the “Bounce House Weekend” and said the timing couldn’t have been better for the expansion pitch, and the benefit it has for Group of 5 schools like UCF.
“It’s a game changer for the Group of 5, sure, but it’s also big for college football,” Malzahn told 247Sports. “It’s best for college football and it will be more exciting and give more people chances. It’s a game changer for us, too, in a lot of ways. It helps our recruiting, it helps everything. It’s big.”
WATCH: ▶️ Josh Pate of 247Sports says the G5, UCF and Gus Malzahn are the biggest winners of the 12-team playoff proposal.
In case you forgot: UCF currently has two commits for the 2022 class, quarterback Thomas Castellanos and offensive lineman Miguel Maldonado. They’re ranked №68 in the country and third in the AAC.
UCF still has a few more events and visits lined up this month:
- June 17: A full 7-on-7 camp
- June 18: Missouri commit Isaac Thompson visits
- June 20: High school prospect camp
- June 25: LB Deuce Caldwell has an official visit
Conquered Eugene, Tokyo next? 🏃♀️
Conference freshman of the year? ✅
First Team All-America honors? ✅
A trip to Tokyo? 🤷🏿♀️
What an incredible run its been for UCF freshman 100-meter hurdle star Rayniah Jones, who finished runner-up at this weekend’s NCAA Track and Field Championships, which was the highest in school history.
Next up? A chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics — one of five Knights to ever audition for Team USA — when she competes in the 100-meter hurdles on Saturday. Jones’ record-breaking time of 12.73 seconds in this April’s Knights Invite broke a 9-year-old school record and locked up her spot in the USA Track & Field Olympic Team Trials.
UCF did a great feature on Jones, who opened up about her own mental health struggles while living with her mother, who suffered from PTSD after military service, and how that helped ground her.
📺 What to watch for: June 19 and June 20, the Olympic trials opening round, semifinals and finals. The top three final-round finishers will qualify for the Olympic team and travel to Tokyo.
Hope you guys have a great Wednesday! See you later in the week, friends! ✌️ — Ryan
