18-Year-Old Gives His $40,000 Scholarship to Other Teens

18-Year-Old Gives His $40,000 Scholarship to Other Teens

Happynews.com

This student won $40,000 in a free-throw competition against seven other students picked for the academic and athletic excellence. After he won, he learned he got a full scholarship to a University. He then donated the $40,000 to the seven other students in the competition. His reasoning:

“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.”

Guei elaborated on his decision to give the money away in an interview with ESPN: “I was already well taken care of to go to school, to go to university for free. ... I felt like they needed it more than I did.”

Now that is a kid who knows that helping those less fortunate or just not as lucky or as blessed as you enriches your own life and our society, as well. He's going to go far in life.

Some background on the idea behind the competition:

The free-throw competition was the idea of Court Crandall, the Hollywood screenwriter behind the movie “Old School” and a partner at a Southern California advertising firm. Crandall was well aware of Compton’s image problems due to gang-related crime. Many of the city’s residents also deal with extreme financial pressures; according to Census data, more than 25 percent of the city’s families live below the poverty line.

One day Crandall was watching his teenage son play basketball with some bright, ambitious Compton students, and he got to thinking about the lines that divide us. Then inspiration struck: Could a free-throw line bring people together?

It's nice and all, but I wonder how the person who was footing the bill and thought they had a reprieve feels about being back on the hook?

What a beautiful story. I have spent months applying for scholarships to no avail, even after graduating top of my class, awarded the Dean's Medal, and having a GPA of 3.91 out of 4 but I digress.

That boy is amazing, and he must have helped a lot of people.