After his mother was shot and killed, Clark Atlanta University sophomore Michael Brittain felt like he had no other option but to drop out of school and support his two siblings.
“My mom was the co-signer for all my student loans,” he said. “She was our sole provider. Now that she’s gone, it’s been a struggle to pay rent, buy food and afford basic living expenses.”
With the help of a special scholarship provided by the Clark Atlanta athletic department, Brittain will not have to abandon his dreams of getting degrees in physics and engineering.
Brittain, 20, was given the scholarship after his basketball coach and teammates rallied around him.
“There was no way we were going to let this terrible tragedy derail Michael from staying at CAU and earning his degree,” Clark Atlanta head basketball coach Darrell Walker said.
As a private Division II institution, most of Clark Atlanta’s athletes are not on full scholarship. Some athletes receive partial athletic scholarships that cover tuition only, but most rely on financial aid to pay tuition, room and board.
Brittain’s mom, Nyyokokie Hendley, 39, was shot and killed in October by her boyfriend DeRon Gude, DeKalb County police said.
Gude, 40, called 911, waited for police and told them Hendley had been shot in the face after the two fought over a gun.
But the medical examiner’s office found Hendley had been shot from more than three feet away.
“It was so sudden,” Brittain said. “To wake up and find out your mother was shot in the head is traumatizing. You really don’t know how to feel. You’re numb.”
Gude remains in the DeKalb County jail on a murder charge.
“I just want to finish school in memory of my mom,” Brittain said. “The scholarship from my university would be a big help to achieve the goals she instilled in me as a little boy.”
