Student Selected as Ron Brown Scholar

A year ago today, Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown was killed in a plane crash over war-torn Croatia. Brown’s commitment to higher education, however, is alive and well. This week, a student at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies was one of 20 African American high school seniors in the nation to be named a Ron Brown Scholar.

Jordan Christopher Brewer, 17, who for two years has been named to “Who’s Who Among American High School Students,” was awarded the scholarship that will pay $10,000 a year for four years and enable him to attend his “dream school,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“It is amazing,” said Brewer, who was one of only three students in California selected. “I never would have thought I would have gotten it.”

He was chosen because of his grades, SAT scores and his work in the community.

“He’s the kind of kid I wanted mine to turn out to be, but didn’t,” said Marion Collins, principal at the center, a magnet high school in the Mid-City area.

One of Brewer’s most enduring qualities, according to Collins, is his sincere modesty.

“You just want to clone this kid,” she said.

Established in 1996, the Ron Brown Scholar Program is funded entirely by the Charlottesville, Va.-based CAP Foundation, dedicated to education, arts and the environment.