Monday, July 28, 2008

Educational Success: Money and Hopeful Expectations

George Weiss, a millionaire philanthropist from Boston, kept a promise he made 17 years ago. He and other donors have helped a group of low-income children with special needs attend college.

The children were second graders in 1991 at the Charles G. Herrington School in Cambridge when Weiss extended them an invitation to the "Say Yes to Education." The incentive? Their college education would be paid.

Of the original 69 students, 35 are now college graduates. One student graduated this spring with a doctoral degree in pharmacy. All but 8 earned high school diplomas or GEDs.

The Cambridge program is now closed, but similar programs run in Philadelphia, New York, and Hartford, Connecticut. Weiss' estimated cost is $35 million, and his reward? Only God can measure the rewards of such generosity and vision.

Source: US News and World Report

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