Essuman, Collins Obtain Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers males’s soccer student-athlete Jude Essuman and girls’s lacrosse student-athlete Caitlin Collins have been chosen because the campus winners of the 2026 Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award, introduced by Discover. The honor, which is in its second 12 months, was created to acknowledge Big Ten student-athletes who try to have a optimistic influence not solely of their chosen sport, but additionally inside their neighborhood.
 
From the gathering of 36 campus winners, two general convention honorees will probably be chosen and introduced within the spring of 2026. In recognition of their achievement and as an expression of the Conference’s appreciation, every of the 36 nominees will obtain a medal bearing the likeness of Jackie Robinson and the brand of the Big Ten Conference.
 
Born in Takoradi, Ghana, Essuman got here to the U.S. the place he attended Woodstock Academy in Connecticut. He helped lead his crew to a number of nationwide titles and was chosen as a 2024 Prep High School All-American in addition to the crew’s Golden Boot and MVP. He joined Rutgers males’s soccer within the fall of 2025, making an instantaneous influence, seeing motion in 13 video games, and scoring his first objective to attract Seton Hall.  
 
A standout each on and off the sector, Collins made 10 appearances as a real freshman for Rutgers final season, scoring in wins in opposition to Oregon and Temple. The Morristown, New Jersey, native serves as this system’s consultant on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee by way of Scarlet Knights for Life. Collins was additionally chosen as a Student-Athlete Advocate for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a nationwide group fashioned after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist assaults to honor and assist the nation’s first responders and navy heroes.
 

The Big Ten Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award, introduced by Discover, was established in 2025 to acknowledge student-athletes at Big Ten establishments who try to have a optimistic influence not solely of their chosen sport, but additionally inside their neighborhood. Jackie Robinson was a standout student-athlete at UCLA, the place he was the varsity’s first four-sport letter winner, excelling in soccer, basketball, monitor and subject, and baseball. Beyond his athletic prowess, nonetheless, he’s acknowledged and honored for his contributions off the sector: integrating Major League Baseball and his lifelong dedication to social justice. He is the embodiment of the Big Ten’s mission to develop sturdy pupil leaders, and we honor his legacy and core values of braveness, willpower, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, dedication, and excellence. As Jackie famously mentioned, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
 
“It is our privilege and great honor to bestow this award in Jackie’s name upon these deserving Big Ten student-athletes and to express our appreciation for the support of the Jackie Robinson Foundation,” mentioned Big Ten Conference Commissioner Tony Petitti.
 
Honorees have been chosen primarily based on the next standards:

• Demonstrated Impact: Significant and tangible contributions to neighborhood initiatives or causes, together with measurable outcomes or optimistic modifications ensuing from their involvement.
• Collaboration and Teamwork: Ability to work successfully with others, together with friends, organizations, and neighborhood members, to attain widespread objectives and improve neighborhood influence.
• Consistency and Commitment: Ongoing and constant participation in neighborhood service actions over an prolonged time period.
• Visibility and Advocacy: Efforts to lift consciousness and advocate for necessary teams or causes, leveraging their platform to advertise optimistic change and interact others.