All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell donates $12M to his former school

Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell has decided to give back to his old community, by donating $12 million to the Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut for a new gym and scholarships for the school. Donovan and his sister Jordan Mitchell both went to the school and his mother, Nicole Mitchell, was a teacher there from 2007 to 2019. All three of them were involved in the donation.

Mitchell just signed a contract extension with the Jazz, worth up to $196 million. He called the extension ”life changing,” and while the money will alter his life, he also wanted to impact others with it.

The scholarships funded by the donation will help low-income students so they can attend. There will be a yearly “faculty support fund” given to select teachers as well, along with the new gym.

In his excitement of being able to help the school, Mitchell tweeted:

“Man this means so much to me! Not just building a brand new gym but giving scholarships to less fortunate kids who normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to attend private school!”

The gym is described as “state-of-the-art” and will feature an NCAA-regulation court and stands on each side. It will be named the D.O.N.! The Determination Over Negativity Mitchell Family Athletic Center.

This scholarship fund donated by the Mitchell family “will help GCDS remain a leader in providing need-based aid for students in Grades Nursery through 12.”

The Nicole Mitchell Faculty Support Fund “will be given to a teacher in each division (4) in the school who have been at GCDS for at least 3 years, and have demonstrated the ‘passion, enthusiasm, optimism, and love for children always shown by Nicole Mitchell.”

The school said that the gifts will help them reward the hard work of teachers and make their school more accessible to students. They also said that this donation is the largest single gift in school history.