MNN - Mother Nature Network

Every now and again you come across a story that's so good, it makes you feel great. A story that renews your faith in others and reminds you why you care in the first place. This is one of those stories.

 

Allan Guei, 18, a recent graduate from Compton High School in the Los Angeles area, made headlines after winning an unusual free throw competition at his high school. Guei, a star basketball player, also had a GPA above 3.0, and his good grades made him eligible to compete in a free-throw contest in the Compton High gymnasium with a top prize of $40,000 in scholarship money.

 

Guei's parents immigrated to the United States from the Ivory Coast and he desperately needed the scholarship money to fulfill his dream of going to college. So the pressure was on for Guei as he took his turn on the line along with seven other randomly selected students to make foul shots. Guei won the contest by one basket and earned the $40,000. That in and of itself would be a great end to the story. But it doesn't end there. And it's what Guei did next that makes this story so good.

 

A few weeks after the March free-throw competition, Guei learned that he'd earned a full-ride basketball scholarship to California State University-Northridge. According to NCAA rules, Guei could to accept the athletic scholarship and also keep most of the $40,000 he had won.

 

But Guei didn't want to be greedy. Instead, he donated his prize money to the seven runners-up from the free-throw contest. "I've already been blessed so much and I know we're living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates," Guei said in a statement. "It was the right decision."

 

The runners up already received $5,000 as part of the competition. So now, thanks to Guei, they will all be heading to college with $11,000 in their pockets — money that's sure to go a long way towards covering books, tuition and living expenses.

 

It's people like Guei that remind us what it means to be generous and to take care of others in our community. And that's what makes this story so great.