MACON, Ga. — There's plenty to celebrate this graduation season, with awards ceremonies, scholarship presentations and of course, walking the stage.
For seven Bibb County families, there's now another reason to celebrate. The Community Foundation of Central Georgia and the Al Lucas Scholarship Fund honored student athletes with a $1,000 scholarship in his memory.
They're great on the field and on the court, but these students are wicked smart, too. They knock that stat out of the park. Their college majors say it all.
"Computer science," said Marshawn Harvey, a football and baseball player from Westside High School.
"Cybersecurity," said Kenyon Jabari, a track and field athlete from Howard.
"Mechanical engineering," said Christopher Martin, a football player from Southwest High.
"Mass communication and broadcast journalism," said Andrew McClendon, a basketball player from Central.
We're definitely not playing favorites!
"Something to fall back on if my original plan doesn't work out, and that's to go to the NBA," McClendon explained.
These star student athletes are four of the seven honored Friday. They received the scholarship, named in honor of Al Lucas, the Northeast alumnus who died playing football, the sport he loved, in 2005.
"They have to have the grade point average. They also have to be involved in sports. They also have to write a letter about what does being an athlete mean to them," said De'Shanda Lucas, Al's wife.
Lucas says this is her favorite night of the year. It's one where she can turn pain into joy.
"I'm just happy to be here. I'm happy to see the students progress, because we get updates on the students," Lucas said.
Now in its 18th year, Lucas hopes the program helps students start college strong. They're students like Jabari, who offered some advice for his fellow scholarship recipients.
"If you want to do something, you're going to find time to do it, and the things you don't want to do, you still have to make sure you get them done, even if you don't want to do them. Because if they're important, they're going to help you in the long run," Jabari said.
The students get the full $1,000 for their first year of school. If they stay in touch with the program, they can renew it for each year of school, at $500 a year.
To receive the scholarship, students must be a scholar athlete from any Bibb County public high school. They must have been accepted to an accredited university, have a caring attitude, leadership skills and be of 'high moral character.' There's a GPA requirement, too: at least a 2.5.
You can apply for next year's awards on the Community Foundation of Central Georgia's website. If you'd like to donate, you can donate directly to the Al Lucas Memorial Scholarship Fund on the site, too.