I've been on a writing jag for my day job, which ironically has kept me from writing here on my blog.
Somewhere in there I missed talking about one of the best stories of the year, which one of my blog readers sent me by email.
In 2004, Sidney Frank left Brown University a $100 million endowment, stipulating that it be used exclusively to cover all tuition and expenses for the neediest of Brown's admitted applicants.
Frank had attended Brown for one year in the 1930s, but left because he could afford the Ivy League prices any more.
Obviously, he did OK despite not getting his Brown degree. He went on to make millions off of Jagermeister, which lots of college students still drink.
The first class of Frank scholars graduated from Brown over the weekend. Read this excerpt from a Monday CNN story on one of the students, Shane Reil:
"Reil, a history major who is preparing to co-chair a student conference on U.S.-South Korean relations and aspires to work in politics or foreign service, says the scholarship was the stuff of dreams.
"He was working up to 40 hours a week during high school so he could pay for clothes and even help with grocery bills. He and his mother were getting by, but the Massachusetts native thought community college or a big state school would be all he could afford.
"When his academic achievements put Brown in his sights, he thought he'd have to go into too much debt to go there. But he applied anyway, and Brown invited him to campus to tell him about how much the school would award him.
"'I sat in this guy's office ... and he said, "$37,000 for tuition,"' Reil recalled. 'I said, "$37,000, that's going to be split over four years, so essentially I'm getting a $10,000 scholarship per year."'
"'He said, "No, no, that's $37,000 for this year, and it will be covered [the rest of the years] too."'
"Reil said he cried in the office and ran to his car, where his mother was waiting.
"'She was crying so much, we had to sit in the car for so long because she couldn't drive. It was a great moment,' Reil said."
Jagermeister makes me retch, but I feel like buying a bottle anyway and drinking a toast to Mr. Frank.
