A Philadelphia Eagles linebacker walked into Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls in North Philadelphia and handed a junior named Laniah Brooks news that changed her family's finances overnight: her tuition for junior and senior year was covered. Jalyx Hunt, who joined the Eagles roster in 2024 and has since become a Super Bowl champion, surprised the school with the first scholarship from a new endowment he established there.
Laniah Brooks was chosen as the first student to receive the funding, and she didn't hold back her reaction. “I'm never letting this go,” she said, according to 6abc Philadelphia. Her father, Rodney Brooks, a single father raising his youngest child after the death of his wife, called it one of the best days of his life, per the same report.
The gift is bigger than one student. Hunt will fund two additional full four-year scholarships, to be awarded to incoming freshmen next year, and each award — along with the endowment itself — is named after a woman who made a difference in Hunt's life, the station's report notes.
A Relationship Years in the Making
This isn't Hunt's first connection to the North Philadelphia school. His relationship with Little Flower dates back to December 2024, during his rookie NFL season, when he donated a portion of GoFundMe money to the school's girls' basketball team and presented the team with an Eagles jersey, according to On3.
Hunt has also used his platform to bring other prominent women into the school's orbit. In April 2026, he introduced Kylie Kelce to the Little Flower community, facilitating her surprise visit and fireside chat with more than 400 students as part of the school's Women in Leadership speaker series, according to Little Flower Catholic High School.
Before reaching the NFL, Hunt's path wasn't a straight line. He played college football as a safety at Ivy League program Cornell University before transferring to Houston Christian University, where he switched to edge rusher and earned 2023 Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors, per On3. The Eagles drafted him in the third round, 94th overall, in 2024, signing him to a four-year rookie contract worth approximately $5.6 million, according to A to Z Sports. He has since recorded a big-game sack for Philadelphia, per 6abc.
Tuition Costs and the Weight of Financial Aid
Located at 1000 West Lycoming Street in the Hunting Park neighborhood, Little Flower has operated since 1939 and set tuition at $11,300 for the 2026–2027 academic year, according to Little Flower Catholic High School. Founded under the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and named after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the school maintains an alumnae network of more than 36,000 women, per CatholicPhilly.
Roughly 98% of students at Little Flower receive financial aid or tuition assistance, which covers an average of 60% of tuition costs through donor support, community grants, and alumnae contributions, according to the school. That reliance on outside giving has only grown: in June 2026, the school announced the creation of a separate $300,000 Sister Mary Scullion Endowment to fund four-year student scholarships, signaling a broader institutional push toward permanent endowment funding.
Part of a Broader Eagles Tradition
Hunt's gift also fits into a recognized pattern of Philadelphia Eagles players backing regional educational equity. Former defensive end Chris Long donated his entire 2017 season salary to fund scholarships and educational programs in Philadelphia and other cities, a gesture cited by On3 as part of that same lineage of player philanthropy.
For families like the Brookses, the impact is immediate and personal rather than symbolic. With tuition assistance already stretched thin across nearly the entire student body, Hunt's endowment — and the two additional scholarships still to be awarded to next year's incoming freshmen — offers a rare guarantee of full coverage in a school where most families are already piecing together aid from multiple sources just to stay enrolled.
