Amber Grant, Deondrae Brown, Oswald Bwechwa Jr. and Keenan Diggins
Career Youth Development, Inc. (CYD) celebrated 41 years of “Love In Action” at the Annual Image Awards Dinner Friday, October 28, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.
Seven hundred people were in attendance including State and local dignitaries and a host of other professionals. State Representative Elizabeth Coggs and Cream City Medical president, Dr. Rene F. Settle-Robinson, DPM served as the Mistresses of Ceremony. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele were in attendance. Mayor Barrett received the 2011 Man of the Year Image Award.
This year’s event also marked the beginning of CYD’s “Jeannette Simpson- Robinson & Hupy and Abraham, S.C. Educational Scholarship Fund”, established to honor local students and provide funding for their future education. Hupy and Abraham, S.C. donated $5,000 to the program.
CYD executive director, Charles L. Walton approached Hupy and Abraham, S.C. about the honors program and the agency’s desire to provide students with more than an Image Award. They wanted to offer some financial assistance to help the students reach their educational goals. Attorney Hupy agreed to donate the funds with the understanding that the money would go directly to the students. “We believe in educating our future leaders”, said Attorney Hupy.
Students seeking scholarships must be a high school senior with a 3.0 GPA. They are required to participate in a CYD program as a volunteer doing some form of community service and they must write an essay explaining why they deserve the scholarship. “Essays are judged on life experiences and family situations”, said Charles Walton.
Ten students applied for the scholarships. Four students were selected. The recipients are Keenan Diggins, a senior at University School. Amber Grant, a senior at Milwaukee School of Entrepreneurship. Amber plans to attend Clark Atlanta University. Oswald Bwechwa Jr., a senior at Milwaukee Lutheran High School. He plans to attend Marquette or Cardinal Stritch University. Deondrae Brown, a senior at Custer High plans to attend Marquette University. The students each received $500.00 checks from Hupy & Abraham, S.C. and laptop computers from Milwaukee PC.