GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — “Our mission here is very simple and it is taking kids from caddying, to college to a career,” said Bob Barss.
Going on almost 100 years of service, the Evans Scholarship Foundation is sending 25 Michigan seniors to college for free this fall. And two of them are from here in West Michigan.
Aydin Johnson, a caddy at Kent Country Club was one of the lucky ones to be chosen.
“I was a part of the first tee and then they introduced caddying to me as a first job, a way to make money, and I’ve kept coming back,” said Aydin.
The Coopersville native has spent all of his teenage summers at Kent and now because of the scholarship, will be on a full ride to Michigan State to study civil engineering.
“I was caddying for Mr. Barss and he told me about it (the scholarship). I just thought it would be a great scholarship, I mean tuition and housing all paid for is really nice so I just kept talking to him about it and applied,” said Johnson.
The scholarship is open to any caddy across the country that shows outstanding skills in their role on the course, but also must meet a specific academic requirement along with demonstrating financial need.
After sending in his application and having an in-person interview, Aydin finally got his acceptance letter this spring.
“I was very excited. I opened it with my parents and they were excited too. It just was, it was a great moment,” said Johnson.
Bob Barss is a long time member at Kent Country Club and the Western Golf association director. He’s been apart of getting caddies to college for nearly 20 years.
“What I have seen, it becomes a life-long fraternity. So whether it’s someone who is in school right now as a scholar. Maybe they graduated and now they’re an alum or maybe it’s someone who is a supporter of the program. It’s a life-long fraternity,” said Barss.
Between tuition costs and housing, it totals just about $125,000 for each Evans Scholar. Something that Aydin says will impact the rest of his life.
“It’ll change my life a lot. I think like after I get out I won’t have any student loans to pay off or anything like that. I can just go straight into my job and saving money,” said Aydin.
Caddying runs in his family. Aydin’s older brother Dakota is going to Grand Valley and was awarded a $20,000 scholarship from the Evans fund and they have a younger brother too who just started caddying this year.
