(Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Nine students at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania started off the new year with a surprise: Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving paid off their tuition.
Irving’s organization, the KAI Family Foundation, paid off the tuition as part of its 11 days of giving in December.
“I’m grateful for all you young leaders,” Kyrie said, according to HBCU Buzz. “You know, I wouldn’t be sitting in my position and embracing who I am without knowing where I come from and people helping me along the way. Just paying it forward.”
Tyki Irving, executive director of the foundation, shared the news with students through a Zoom call.
“And moving forward, with just a small gratitude of your resilience, and your pursuit of being professional young Black men and women, kings and queens,” Tyki said, according to HBCU Buzz. “So if we could just help lift a burden and help facilitate that transition to be as smooth as possible, that is what we’re here to do.”