I'm very happy for this young woman--she has remarkable drive

Standout BCTC graduate snags prestigious $120,000 scholarship to continue her education

Ebony Nava has been a standout at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, a straight A science major who headed student government, wrote for the school newspaper and won nearly every academic award offered — all while raising her son and her six siblings.

Nava, 26, graduated from BCTC last year and will graduate again Saturday, this time with a certificate in biotechnology and a $120,000 scholarship to continue at a four-year school.

The Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship is given to 90 community college students a year from all over the country. For now, Nava is thinking about attending Wellesley College in Massachusetts with a double major in biochemistry and philosophy

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Nava, who lives in Georgetown with her family, credits many in her community there and at BCTC for her ascent. When she gained custody of her siblings at age 20, she had a second-grade education but quickly earned her GED before entering BCTC.

A remarkable young man

18-year-old gives his $40,000 scholarship to other teens: Compton High basketball player Allan Guei felt his classmates needed the money more

In the weeks following the March free-throw competition, Guei learned that he’d scored a full-ride basketball scholarship to California State University-Northridge. NCAA rules allowed Guei to accept the athletic scholarship and also keep most of the $40,000 he had won.

But Guei couldn’t stop thinking about the seven talented runners-up from the free-throw contest. They, too, had dreams — and very real needs. So, he asked Principal Jesse Jones to make a surprise announcement at Compton High’s graduation ceremony: Guei wanted to donate the $40,000 to the other seven students.

“I’ve already been blessed so much and I know we're living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates,” Guei said in a statement. “It was the right decision.”

I hope this young man goes far in the world, and that his generosity inspires others. Because of him, seven other students will be able to have their undergraduate expenses mostly paid, whereas in the original competition they'd have had about a year, so this takes away the worry of completing their undergraduate education, and they won't have to take out debts to pay. This one person's generosity can touch many lives. I wish them all well.