Michigan Golf Journal March 2020

Michigan Golf Journal Evans Scholars Jade Hamdan of Novi was adopted from China when she was 10 months old and is now raised by a single mother. John Paul moved to America to attend University of Detroit Jesuit High School following hardships in his home country of Haiti from the 2010 earthquakes. When he began caddying at his local club, he had never seen golf before. Devian Johnson of Waterford describes himself as a kid from a broken family who wanted to succeed, and a scholarship was his “ticket to a new beginning”… and no longer needing “to worry about homelessness or what kind of education I’m receiving. The scholarship gives a kid who was the lowest on the totem pole, an opportunity to be seen and heard.” These three young people and 28 others like them were all recently chosen for the life-altering Evans Scholars program, which in Michigan sets up high school seniors who worked as caddies, with four years of fully paid tuition and housing at either Michigan or Michigan State’s respective Evans Scholars House. Each scholarship is estimated at a worth of $120,000 over four years. The Western Golf Association, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois, has supported the Chick Evans Scholarship Program through the Evans Scholars Foundation since 1930. One of golf’s favorite charities, it is the nation’s largest scholarship program for caddies. Currently, a record Golf Delivers Brighter Futures for 31 Evans Scholars By Tom Lang Continues on page 28 >>

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