Education Grant WinnerFernando Laviada

Sports have a unique way of bringing together team camaraderie and electrifying a person’s competitiveness. That couldn’t be more apparent in the world of cricket, where it resembles a lot of what baseball has to offer, only with a combination of other sports, too, making it the ultimate ever-unique game.

Fernando Laviada, educator at John Marshall High School, had started a cricket team and, with it still in its early stages of development, was looking to continue to add equipment his players needed to further enhance their skillsets. Thanks to Power of the Dollar^® members, he was awarded a $1,000 grant in December 2024 for her “Belongings Begins at NISD” idea, which he then used to purchase a cricket pitch mat (playing surface), and one that was desperately needed for his students to play the game.

“We’ve been trying to build our cricket program now for about two years,” said Laviada. “What was really giving us a tough time, though, was our playing surface. We were awarded the grant thankfully to Firstmark (appreciate it!), and we bought a playing surface that the guys have been using and loving. Other schools in the district who don’t have it ask us to bring it out so that we can play with it, and it’s been a blessing to have, and amazing thing to have thanks to Firstmark!”

While the playing surface may not be making that big of a difference, it certainly has. Holding all practices in the back of the school on a cement lot, the cricket team’s playing surface is paying huge dividends toward their ability to improve their hand-eye coordination, as well as making it a real game experience. With the team still in the process of rounding-out over the coming years, the surface is a tremendous asset to accomplishing that, and it’s even a hit with the other schools within the district, too!

“The impact has been nothing but positive,” he said. “Part of the reason why we started this program two years ago was to give them a sense of belonging. It might be such a small addition, the playing surface, but the guys are so excited. We got more guys coming out and participating than we did a year ago, and I genuinely believe that we have a more authentic playing surface for them!”