Brown Family First Generation to College Fund

(photo: The Brown Family, Dr. Charles Brown, his sons Bob, Charlie and Sherrod and his wife, Emily.) 

Emily Brown established the “First Generation to College” Fund in 2009 to provide scholarships to students whose parent(s) has (have) not earned either a two-year or four-year college degree.

The scholarship is based entirely on need. The fund seeks young people of all races with ambitions for their lives.    

Once a student starts with the First-Generation-to-College fund, the goals are to continue to help her or him obtain a degree and to continue or slightly increase the scholarship award in the student’s second, third, fourth, even fifth, year.

The fund wants to help students who want to continue with their education, even if the student must shift from full-time to part-time for a while.

To date, the fund has awarded 64 scholarships. Here is what one scholarship winner wrote:

“Thank you for selecting me to receive the First Generation to College Scholarship. Over the next several years, I will develop my skills so I can begin my marketing career. I will also participate in various organizations so I can be an important role model in my community”

Another recipient wrote:

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to study Early Childhood Education and go to college. Ever since I visited Cedarville University for the first time in 4th grade for a basketball camp, I dreamed of going. I come from a single-parent, low-income home, so this scholarship is much appreciated. My mother has been a huge support in helping me see my college dreams come true”