Student returns college scholarship

Student returns college scholarship

Jeffrey Warren, a white student, won an award that was intended for African Americans

When a student who won a scholarship for African-American students walked to the stage at a Riverside, Calif., high school to pick up his award, the audience laughed nervously. The student,Jeffrey Warren, was white.

Warren, 17, a recent graduate of Riverside's King High School, won a $1,000 scholarship sponsored by Riverside's Martin Luther King Senior Citizens Club. While a cover letter to guidance counselors indicated that the award was intended only for black students, the application merely "encourage[d] African-American students to apply," according to King High School Principal Darel Hansen.

The morning after the ceremony, Warren returned the money. Since then, his story has made national headlines.

Warren's father Rod, a language arts teacher at King High School, said he told his son to apply for every scholarship for which he might be eligible. Since the application did not explicitly rule out non-black applicants, the soon-to-be San Diego State freshman gave it a shot. Out of the 27 scholarships for which he applied, he won four, including the one he later gave up.

"The laughter was slight at the beginning, then it got louder," Rod Warren said. "You could tell the [award presenters] were surprised, but they shook his hand and gave it to him."

News source:yahoo