Path to higher education
BC student wins scholarship from foundation
Jarredd Simpson is weighing his options after becoming one of three Broward College students this year to win a scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
Simpson, 19, of Margate, came to the U.S. from Jamaica in 2013 to pursue affordable higher education.
“I didn’t know anybody,” Simpson said. “I felt, honestly, like a fish out of water.”
Simpson excelled at Broward College and won the foundation’s Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, which provides up to $40,000 a year to about 85 students selected annually.
According to the foundation’s website, a professional panel selected Simpson and the other scholarship winners, basing its decisions, in part, on academic achievement and financial need. Scholarship application materials also ask students to demonstrate persistence, leadership and a desire to help others.
David Millar, of Plantation, and Malak Benkhadra, of Fort Lauderdale, won scholarships alongside Simpson, marking the first time that Broward College had three winners in one year.
“We could not be more proud of these three students,” said Broward College President David Armstrong.
Simpson credits his family with instilling in him the importance of education. He said his mother and brothers struck a deal with him and accepted extra hours at work to support him financially as long as he focused on his college courses.
He also joined four campus clubs and volunteered for local organizations. Simpson received an offer of admission from the University of Miami, but he is also waiting to hear back from Cornell University. He’d like to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology and then attend law school.
Older brother Dorren, 23, said the family worked hard to overcome the death of their father, a business owner in Jamaica, about eight years ago.
Jarredd Simpson has battled depression and anxiety for about three years.
“But he’s come a long way,” Dorren Simpson said. “He’s been very successful, and attaining this scholarship is, too, a testament that anything you want you can definitely get.”
Jarredd Simpson spoke at an October campus event raising awareness of depression.
“Sharing my story and getting such a positive feedback from the people who were there was really the height of my time at Broward College,” he said. “That’s when I honestly felt accepted.”