Scholars make Detroit Connection

Six students were awarded scholarships for their junior year during the annual Detroit Connection scholarship luncheon June 1 at Bali Hai Golf Club.

The Detroit Connection, an organization formed in 1999 of hundreds of former Detroiters, focused on the young scholars and their accomplishments since receiving the scholarships.

“We are so proud of our students, and giving them the scholarship for four years instead of one is the best thing we could have done,” said Juanita Green, one of the founders and chair of the scholarship committee.

The Detroit Connection has given more than $100,000 in scholarships since 2001 and has a 98 percent graduation rate. The scholarship requirements are to provide service in the community and maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA. Nearly all of the scholarship winners are honor students.

“Even after they graduate we keep in touch with them,” said Christy Cason, Detroit Connection president.

The keynote speaker was NBA great Spencer Haywood, who resides in Las Vegas. He spoke of leaving the cotton fields of Mississippi to move to Detroit for a better life.

“The whole city of Detroit adopted me, including Gladys Knight and the Pips when I went to high school. It was all the love and support that kept me going. The Detroit Connection is doing that for these young people,” Haywood said. Haywood went to high school with local Detroit Connection member Glennie Gaines.

During dinner, supporters and parents listened to the scholarship winners’ success stories.

■ Twenty-year-old Charlene Polomer Hinton was unable to attend because she began an internship in New York this week with the Ernst and Young accounting firm, but her story was unforgettable. Homeless while in high school, Hinton was featured on Katie Couric’s show for overcoming adversities. The Syracuse University student managed to take a 19-hour course load this year while maintaining a 3.85 GPA. She was represented at the luncheon by her counselor and mentor Elena Clavel. Hinton will also spend part of this coming academic year in Strasbourg, France.

■ Jamar Davis, a USC student who along with his Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity created $2,500 scholarships, headed to the airport immediately following the luncheon to begin an internship at Goldman Sachs.

■ Tiffany Harris, a student at Michigan State University who just returned from studying in London, said: “A loan could not cover it all. I don’t think I could attend college without the help from the Detroit Connection.”

■ Kaile Jefferies of Alabama State University said, “The recurring scholarship forces us to maintain our grade point.”

■ Katelynn Adams, a student at Virginia State University, is a Big Sister and has been recognized by the business school for her accomplishments.

■ Also unable to attend was Joshua Jackson of Washington and Lee University in Chicago, who began his summer job at The Center for Economic Progress there. However, his father, Donald Jackson, was on hand to express with pride how well his son is doing and his appreciation to the Detroit Connection.

The nearly 200 attendees had the opportunity to bid on silent auction items.

The most popular was a side-by-side drawing of Martin Luther King Jr. and President Barrack Obama titled “I Have a Dream, I am a Dream” by Gary Saterup, donated by art dealer Joseph Scott.

Among the guests were Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson, D-North Las Vegas; Asha Jones, assistant to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Kara Jenkins of the Equal Rights Commission.

Other guests included Joseph Scott, Janice Barkley, Bernadine Brunson, Sarah Harris and Victoria Boyd.