A Lesson Learned Scholarship Winner!

EdenHailemairiam and Author Jeevan Brown

Earlier this year I had the idea to create a scholarship for my book A Lesson Learned.  With the success of A Lesson Learned I knew it was only right to give back and help one deserving student as much as I could. These last few years I've grown a lot, especially when it comes to spirituality. I constantly remind myself of my purpose, my intent and the most important of them all is to serve. When you're blessed it's important to be a blessing to others. I knew nothing about creating a scholarship, but I knew a few people and professors who did. I reached out to them and learned everything that I needed to know. One person I contacted was former NBA player Josh Howard. Josh has a chapter in my book called "Draft Day" and he also has the Josh Howard Foundation which also does scholarships for economically challenged students. I sat in my room telling him my idea and what he said next shocked me. Josh said he would match my funds to go towards the scholarship funds. I was speechless and could only think "If you take one step towards God he'll take two towards you." I had been consistently praying for guidance about the scholarship and for this to happen was nothing short of a blessing. 

After Josh and I worked out the logistics I started promoting the scholarship through my network and social media. The contestants had to write a 2 page essay about my book as it pertained to the guidelines and that's it. Most scholarships require students to have a certain GPA, but I didn't want any restrictions. I remember when I was in high school my GPA wasn't that high so I didn't want to exclude students who might have the potential, but didn't have the grades. I contacted the universities and high schools my book was a part of to tell them about the scholarship. I figured this would be an easy win for those students because they already read the book.

The students had three months to submit their essays and one by one the essays started to roll in. During this time my friend Ben Givens who is the owner of Inspired Emotions Photography contacted me and told me he wanted to do a partnership with the scholarship. Again, I was blown away. With his participation the amount for the scholarship increased again. My initial amount for the scholarship winner was $500.00, but when Josh contributed it went to $1,000.00 and when Ben contributed it went to $1, 100.00. All it takes is a little ounce of faith and before you know it your idea has grown beyond to what you thought it could.

As I sat in my home office reading the essays I was blown away. Then it hit me! I realized that I had really made an impact on some of the students who read A Lesson Learned. One student actually called to tell me that even if he didn't win he still wanted to thank me because the booked helped him so much while attending Morgan State University. I could hear in his voice how sincere he was and he also explained what chapters he referenced back to when he needed a little guidance. 

As I kept reading I picked the top three and my team and I unanimously chose the same person - Eden Hailemairiam. Her essay started off like a story in a book and it was so well-written. Eden was attending the University of West Georgia, but ended up not being able to complete her second semester as a freshmen do to an accident she had while at a party. That accident not only made her miss her second semester, but she also lost her HOPE scholarship. She explained that my book helped her through her rough times as a freshmen and how every time she made a mistake she would think about certain chapters in my book that talked about her current situation or problem. Through her perseverance Eden will now be attending Georgia State this Fall and is majoring in Respiratory Therapy. Eden is a first generation student from Ethiopia and has only been in the United States for eight years. Her story is amazing. Good luck Eden!

I want to give a special thanks to the Josh Howard Foundation and Inspired Emotions Photography, because of your contributions we will be able to help Eden further her education and hopefully change the world. Thank you everybody for your support, this is still only the beginning. All it takes is faith, prayer and action and I promise you can do anything. Keep pushing! Order your copy of A Lesson Learned here. 

One last thing. The other day while driving home form work I remembered that I had scholarship written on my vision board. I wrote that on my vision board three years ago and it manifested. When I created the scholarship my vision board wasn't on my mind. The same thing happen with the picture in the top right corner that says "shaping the college curriculum." I actually made a curriculum for my book and did so without even thinking about this picture. It's safe to say vision boards really work. If you have time create one do it and see what happens. God Bless!