Lawyer dedicates settlement for partial loss of hand to helping kids get a good education
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A Louisville, Kentucky, lawyer who lost part of his hand because of a defective shotgun decided to use the $6.4 million settlement to help low-income children get a good education.
Lawyer Nick King, a 69-year-old former prosecutor and state supreme court justice, began by promising to pay the cost of college for 38 sixth graders, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. To qualify for the money, the kids had to meet with King twice a week until they finished high school. Thirty-four graduated from high school and 21 from college.
Next, King offered to pay the $12,000 annual tuition for motivated students who wanted to attend the elite girls’ school Sacred Heart Academy, the story says. He also offered scholarship to help graduates pay the cost of college. Fifty-three girls graduated from the school, 26 graduated from college, and another 17 are currently in college.
Would-be Sacred Heart students have to show they will put forth their best effort. Before starting at Sacred Heart, the students have to attend a five-week summer school. During that period, King teaches the students the proper way to answer the phone, respond to emails and introduce one adult to another. They also are coached on how give public speeches and are required to learn 200 vocabulary words.
King continues to meet with the Sacred Heart students each week after they enroll. He requires them to learn 4,000 vocabulary words in all and takes them to the opera, the jail, the courthouse and fine restaurants, the story says,
“I believe you change the world one life at a time, and when you change one life, you change many lives,” King told the Courier-Journal. “These young women have changed the perspective of thousands of other students, of their families and their communities.”
The website for his scholarship program is here.
