Kevin Durant has partnered with a program called College Track that works with black students from low-income areas to help get them into college. The program works with the students for a 10-year period, from ninth grade all the way past college graduation.
The Golden State Warriors forward first became familiar with College Track in Oakland two years ago during a visit and afterward promised to bring it to Prince George’s County in his home state of Maryland.
Last year the NBA star announced that he’d give $10 million in 10 years toward the program, and the first 68 students who were selected just completed their freshman year at Prince George County’s Suitland High School.
Plus, on Jan. 23, the two-time NBA champ opened The Durant Center near the high school, where students go to several times a week for tutoring and lessons on time management, stress management and other things, according to Maryland TV news station WJLA.
College Track students will also receive financial assistance for their higher education if they meet certain goals established by the program.
On the basketball end of things, Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon on Monday in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors, and many have criticized the Warriors for playing him. That’s because he sustained a calf injury in the previous series against the Houston Rockets. The 30-year-old underwent surgery to repair the injury on Wednesday and faces several months of recovery.
But regardless of the star forward not being able to play at the moment, he’s still being cheered on by parents whose kids are in College Track.
“For [someone] like Kevin Durant to say, ‘This is where I came from. How can I give back, how can I make a difference?’ For families like us who are still trying to find our way, it’s everything to us. It’s life-changing,” Berniece Reese, whose son Donovan is a College Track student, told WJLA.
