(Photo: Basket Streaming)
He’s made a fortune by making his professional dreams come true. Now he’s helping a thousand other people do the same. Basketball star LeBron James announced that his charitable foundation will fund full tuition scholarships for 1,000 students in Akron Public Schools to attend the University of Akron in Ohio. The Cleveland Plain Dealer quotes James:
"It means so much because, as a kid growing up in the inner city and a lot of African-American kids, you don't really think past high school," James later told reporters. "You don't really know your future. You hear high school all the time, and you graduate high school and then you never think past that because either it's not possible or your family's not financially stable to even be able to support a kid going to college."
James likened himself to the children who will be eligible for these scholarships -- a poor child of a single parent who didn't have the money to go to college. But the 6-8, 250-pound superstar had the NBA and millions of dollars waiting for him.
Five years ago, the James foundation switched its focus to mentoring and tutoring poor, at-risk youths who are in danger of failing out of school because of problems learning, with attendance, or in their homes. This partnership with the university could play a key role in helping James reach his goal of raising the city's graduation rate.
-via Hopes & Fears