Scholarships

The Foundation has two major scholarships:

The WIWD Foundation strives to assist youth in continuing their education. Ike graduated in 2014 from Brother Rice High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Bloomfield Hills, MI, shortly before his death. He excelled in all of his academics during his time at Brother Rice, and lived out his love for God and others in every way he could. He was to attend Washington University in St. Louis on a full-ride scholarship to study pre-med. 

Ikechukwu Onwuzurike Guardian Angel Scholarship

This scholarship is the WIWD Foundation’s first financial aid program that began in 2015. Each year, one to two upperclassman from Brother Rice and Marian High Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan are awarded $1,000 each to go towards their tuition. This scholarship intends to honors the memory and life of Ike Onwuzurike, who graduated from Brother Rice in 2014. This scholarship is now offered to students at Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills.

There are three requirements for this scholarship:

  • Scholar must be an upperclassman at Brother Rice.

  • Scholar must have two (2) letters of recommendations from faculty at Brother Rice.

  • Two (2) essays demonstrating acts of a scholars selflessness, service, work ethics, love for others, positive attitude and passion for learning must be submitted.

 The Ike’s Scholar College Tuition Assistance Scholarship

This is a new scholarship offered by the WIWD Foundation. This scholarship is available nationwide to all students of incoming freshman status enrolled at a four-year undergraduate institution or community college working towards their bachelor’s degree. A one-time $1,000.00 scholarship will be distributed to the recipient’s school account to go towards their tuition aid. There will be 18 recipients.

The application deadline is Monday, June 26th, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. 

 

As at the year 2023, we have awarded scholarships to a total of 29 students, thereby bringing the expenses on our different scholarship programs to about $80,000.

Recipients

Ikechukwu Onwuzurike Guardian Angel Scholarship

  • Danny Holt Brother Rice 2025

    Charlie Gates Brother Rice 2026

  • Langston Nervils   Brother Rice High School ‘23

    Andrew Riordan Brother Rice High School ‘24

  • Langston Nervils   Brother Rice High School ‘23

    Lauren Harris Marian High School ‘23

  • Jillian Davis, ’20

    Donovan Hails, ’20

    Julie Wilker, ’20

  • Michael Tremonti, ’18

    Charlie Carter, ’18

  • Andrew Biondo, ’17

    Andrew Ameen, ’17

    Tristan Klein, ’17

  • Micheal Thut, ’15

    Daniel Goralczyk, ’15

    Neal McCaffrey, ’16

The Ike’s Scholar College Tuition Assistance Scholarship

  • Marylin Kowalewski Marian HS Bloomfield Hills MI

    Margaret Kase Marian HS Bloomfield Hills MI

    Kaden Sotomayor Brother Rice HS Bloomfield Hills MI

    Thema Ogunjiofor South Cobb High School Austell GA

    Ikenna Ugboaja Bronx N.Y. HS Bronx NY

    Ekene Okoro Renaissance HS Detroit MI

  • Selina Adenka. Eagles Landing High School. Going to Georgia State University. Major - Criminal Justice

  • Langston Nevils From Pontiac MI

    Lucy Kinna From Bloomfield Hills MI

    Jonah Corpuz From Puyallup WA

    Malik McDonald From Madison WI

Testimony

This scholarship program was originally the Ike’s Scholar Scholarship, which the foundation launched in 2017. The first recipient of this award was Michael Singleton, who the foundation awarded a four-year, full ride scholarship to attend Brother Rice High School, from which he graduated in May 2020. Below you can read more about Michael’s experiences and his plans to attend Howard University to study medicine.

I want to start this letter out first by thanking the Onwuzurike Family and the WIWD Foundation. This year was difficult and exciting, my senior and final year at Brother Rice High School. This year will be one for the history books not just because of Covid-19 but because all the ways it changed us. Despite it all, I am grateful for the time and experience at Brother Rice.

I plan to follow Ike’s example and deepen my relationship with God. My faith was tested the most this year but when I thought about what Ike would do, it gave me the extra push to finish the last mile, do the homework, study for the test and it has paid off.  I was honored to give back to the scholarship that I was the first receipt of. I plan to continue in years to come to help in any way possible with the scholarship. I also continued with my service hours by helping pack food at Gleaners, to volunteering at the Baldwin Center, and participated in service days at Brother Rice. Although we did not have the IKE run, I will look forward to it next year. 

I learned that faith is not just defined by how much you pray or how much you go to church, I found faith sustained and kept me focused even when many things seem to not go my way. I kept going because you know God will help you along the way and I had to remind myself no problem is too big or too hard, God will always help you with everything.

As this chapter of my life come to a close, I look forward to next year. I was accepted to my first college choice, Howard University in Washington D.C. where I plan to study medicine.  I am the first graduate from Brother Rice to attend Howard University. I plan to study medicine and make a difference in my community.  I feel that the education I received at Brother Rice High School has prepared me for the challenges that await me at Howard University. I am humbled by the blessing I received and plan to pay it forward, something I learned from the entire Onwuzurike Family and the WIWD Foundation. 

-Michael Singleton, May 2020