More than 150 students from Los Angeles’ economically disadvantaged neighborhoods were welcomed to The Grove retail center on Aug. 9 for a party honoring their academic performance.

Students from South Central Scholars, Helping Young People Excel and Operation: Progress were treated to a movie at The Grove and a short ceremony on their academics. Speaking and giving their congratulations was Rick Caruso, founder of The Grove, and Andre Ethier, outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Caruso Family Foundation committed $300,000 in scholarship support and direct program funding for South Central Scholars, Helping Young People Excel and Operation: Progress.

At The Americana at Brand retail center, Caruso recently honored two recipients of his 2013 Spirit of American Youth Scholarship. Chad Powers and Erica Hilliard each received a $10,000 scholarship. Powers will be matriculating to Princeton University this fall where he’ll start an engineering major. Hilliard will start University of Notre Dame in the fall.

Both Powers and Hilliard were excellent students in high school. Both were active in scouting programs and were student athletes. Powers also served as a tutor at Los Angeles Unified School District. Hilliard tutored music. She also graced the cover of Quinceañera Magazine in 2011.