NICE Testimonial: Pay Education Forward

Hi guys! Are you experiencing any snow where you are? I got to break in my new, spaceman-esque, white snow boots this morning while putting the recycling at the curb. It was exciting, for sure.

Have you written any letters yet? My friend Crystal, who gave me the stationery in the previous post, posted this photo of FIVE letters she wrote on Monday! Yay! Now I kinda feel like a slacker because I haven't written mine yet. But I will! Tonight...hopefully.

Today's testimonial comes from Annette in NYC, pictured here with her daughter. Can you believe they aren't sisters?? Annette shared a story that touched her heart, in hopes that it will inspire others.

My daughter attended a very small high school in the China town section of NYC. It is not a rich neighborhood and the kids were all a mix of ethnicities. At my daughter's high school senior awards night, the teachers were handing out college scholarships to all of the students that performed well during the year from corporations or businesses in the neighborhood.

Toward the end of the evening two middle aged women stood up and walked to the stage. They told a story of wanting to go to college when they were teenagers but couldn't afford it. A friend of the family gave them loans to go to college with the understanding that they would pay them back when they graduated with a degree. When the women graduated from college and wanted to pay back their friend, they were told not to pay her back, but to pay it forward and offer a scholarship to some deserving student when they could afford it.

That night on the stage, these two amazing women offered two $1,000 scholarships to two deserving students in the audience as a pay it forward gesture and asked the audience to do the same if they ever had a chance to do it. There wasn't a dry eye in the audience and in fact, I am crying now just thinking of how I felt at their gesture. My daughter was not one of the recipients of that scholarship, but I hope she took away the gift of kindness from these two special women.

Beautiful. That actually reminds me of something my parents did for me. When choosing a college, the deal was that my parents would pay half, and I would take out loans for the other half. Great deal, right? Well, when I graduated, my parents presented me with a graduation gift. An envelope. Inside was a letter and the receipts showing that all my loans had been paid off. Now that I think back to that story, I don't know if I ever properly showed my appreciation for that amazing gesture. I should probably write them a letter.

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