Scholarship Makes Difference in One Student’s Life and Future

2-Herbert AshWhat does it mean to receive an Aldine scholarship? At last year’s Aldine Education Foundation (AEF) breakfast, celebrating the first year of the organization, attendees heard from several youths who received these scholarships. Each had a poignant story, including Herbert Ash.

Herbert is now a student at Lone Star College—North Harris, thanks to his AEF scholarship, he says.

But his road to college was rocky because he got into some trouble in high school and after school. He says he had a bad attitude, and he hung around with the wrong people. It looked like he was destined to failure and a dim future.
But Herbert had a teacher at Eisenhower High School who cared about his students and saw that Herbert needed help. That teacher, Mr. Gerald Scott, is now a counselor at the school. His relationship with Herbert, however, dates back to Eisenhower 9th Grade, where Mr. Scott was a basketball coach. There, he started an organization known as MAP, or Manhood Achievement Program, teaching responsibility and a sense of awareness of others. Hebert knew from his participation in this program that Mr. Scott would help him when he got into trouble with his friends, especially after a minor drug arrest.

As Herbert put it at the breakfast, “It is a blessing to have someone close that cares.” Scott wrote a recommendation to the court for Herbert, and he was able to receive probation and continue his education without interruption.

Herbert says that his mother didn’t have the money to send him to college, and even had to take out a loan to pay for his high school graduation. It was only through his AEF scholarship that he had a chance at higher education, he says.

Now, Herbert is in his first year at LSC-NH, and doing well. He is taking business administration courses leading toward a career in business real estate, and expects to have his own realty company some day.

In examining his life and prospects, Herbert knows the two factors that led him away from trouble, and toward his future success, were a counselor who cared about him, who even now stays in touch regularly, and a scholarship that opened opportunities that he and his mother thought were not possible prior to this.

To support the college dreams of Aldine students like Herbert Ash, please make a tax deductible contribution to the Aldine Education Foundation, 14910 Aldine Westfield Road, Houston, TX 77032. For information on donating through PayPal, contact Judy Hoya, (281) 985-6078.