CHARACTER COUNTS

Golden State’s Kevin Durant makes college dreams come true

Jun 9, 2018, 10:15 AM | Updated: Jun 10, 2018, 7:03 pm

Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant paid it forward recently in a big way.

Teaming up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula in Redwood City, Calif., Durant made four students’ college dreams come to fruition.

The four were accepted into schools, but due to their financial situation it wasn’t known if they would attend.

That all changed during a 2018 Youth of the Year presentation when Durant made an announcement that the four will never forget.

For the first year of college, Durant is covering the cost for each one of them.

“That was the moment when I knew my whole life would change,” Dezmond Frazier, one of the four students, told ESPN. “At that very moment.”

For Durant, it was an easy thing to do.

“I grew up in a similar situation, here are four kids that have been through so much already in their short lives and to be able to get up the next day and keep pushing, keep trucking, I was very proud just to meet them,” Durant said. “It’s something I always dreamed about and always wanted to be a part of something special outside of myself so that I could be able to help.

“It feels like I’m doing something good in the world when I can help somebody else out.”

There was a close connection between the five as Durant had relied on the Boys & Girls Clubs much like the four students do today.

“I was like, ‘wow I can’t believe I impressed an MVP,'” Magali Pineda said.

But that’s not all Durant has done.

Not only did he pay for the first year of college, he also donated a basketball court to the Boys & Girls Clubs and interviewed them for the club’s Youth of the Year honors.

“Your world flips, that’s what happens,” Alysia Demery said when asked what it was like to have Durant reach out and help her and the three other students. “I feel like my future just got a whole lot brighter.”

“I fell on the ground just knowing that someone believes in you enough to literally invest in you.”

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Golden State’s Kevin Durant makes college dreams come true