College of Staten Island
Honors Maya Angelou & Patti
LaBelle
In the middle of his college career,
with no substantial money or job and buried to his eyes with
schoolwork, Justice Olagbaiye’s
girlfriend told him she was pregnant.
Unplanned as it was, Justice, a
sophomore majoring in psychology at the College of Staten
Island, knew he needed a source of income fast, while keeping
himself focused on long-term priorities. “I
knew that staying in school was paramount,” he said, “and
getting my bachelor’s degree was my only guarantee to
a decent job and a good life for me, and ultimately, my daughter.”
To help lift a weight off his financial
woes, Justice applied for the Dr. Edison O. Jackson Single
Fathers Scholarship Fund through the Male Development and
Empowerment Center of the City University’s
Medgar Evers College, the first and only scholarship of its
kind established at any public or private institution of higher
learning in the country.
He was successfully granted the award and was among two other recipients
recognized at the 10th annual Dr. Edison O. Jackson Single
Fathers Scholarship Awards Celebration recently at the Brooklyn
Museum of Art.
The scholarship recipients were
praised for their determination in the presence of two of
society’s
greats, Maya Angelou and Patti LaBelle, both of whom were
being honored at the event. Maya Angelou, known for her legendary
wisdom, received the 2004 Dr. Betty Shabazz Find the Good
and Praise It Award, a motto she admittedly tries to closely
mirror. Patti LaBelle accepted the first Rainbow Award for
her honorable contributions to society through her music
and participation in various medical associations.
“If you’re feeling what you’re doing,” LaBelle
said, “if you have that soul, spirit, and motivation,
you can do anything.”
Now Justice has all of that: a soul,
a spirit, and a motivation, and her name is Kyra, his “beautiful” four-month-old
daughter. “When I saw my daughter for the first
time and held her in my arms, I immediately knew that she deserved
more than I could ever provide,” he said, and “at
that very moment I knew that she was the most precious and
important thing in my life.”
With all of this fatherly love in
his heart, it was still heavy with worry. “I wondered how I would ever possibly be able
to support a child if I could hardly support myself,” he
confessed, “and The Dr. Edison Single Fathers Scholarship
Fund will give me a jumpstart while I continue my search for
employment, complete my education, and make a home for my daughter.”#
