ChristianNews
Philando Castile’s classmates are honoring him with a scholarship in his name.
On the anniversary of Castile’s death, alumni who went to Central High School came together to award a scholarship in his honor. The very first Philando Castile Memorial Scholarship was awarded to to Marques Watson. The scholarship is geared toward helping young black men.
According to Watson, the $5,000 scholarship was the only way that he would be able to go to college.
“Before I received this scholarship, I had no way … at all, that I was going to be able to help myself, and my family really has no money to help me,” Watson told MPR. “This scholarship is great because it takes a little weight off my shoulders.”
Castile’s former classmates are now trying to gather enough money to award a $100,000 scholarship and have already gathered half of the money necessary.
On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was shot and killed by Jeronimo Yanez, a St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer, after being pulled over in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Saint Paul. Castile was in a car with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter when he was pulled over by Yanez and another officer.
