December 7, 1991, was my day of infamy.  That was the day my younger sister and her two sons moved from New York to Maryland to live with me. At the age of 39, she was in the last stages of breast cancer and had asked my husband and me to become legal guardians of the boys.  Sadly, she lost her battle with cancer in January 1992.  

The boys were 8 and 3 at the time.  The 8-year-old had a physical and learning disability due to Cerebral Palsy.  Since we did not have children,  the first question we asked ourselves was, “How are we going to provide these boys with a college education?  We don’t have a college fund?”

We encouraged them to do well in school because we heard there was scholarship money “out there” for students who had good grades.  We had this conversation with them often because we wanted it to become part of their value system.   As time went on, they internalized these values enabling them to become exceptional students.  Both were strong in reading but struggled in math. We hired tutors to help shore up their weak subjects and were involved in their school.  They began volunteering in middle school and continued through high school and got involved in extracurricular activities.  Looking back,  they were preparing themselves to become not only“college ready” but “scholarship ready”.  They both received a debt-free education. The 3-year-old is currently an accomplished musician and Theo, who has cerebral palsy, received his debt-free education from the University of Southern California.   I know my sister is looking down from above beaming with pride.  Check out the video to hear how Theo’s story began.