New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards is honoring his mother Malesa Plater’s commitment to education this Mother’s Day by awarding 11 students from the Cleveland Municipal School District $10,000 to go towards their college education. “I wanted to really do this with my mom because she always stressed to me how important education was growing up,” he said. The students are part of Advance 100, a program dedicated to addressing the educational needs of under-served youth in Cleveland. Edwards first pledged $1 million to fund college scholarships for 100 students in the program in 2007. Every student in the program must maintain a 2.5 grade point average throughout high school, do 15 hours of community service every year and cannot have unexcused absences until they graduate. If they follow through Edwards will help pay for their college education. Today, eleven of the first 100 students are graduating a year early. “These kids are just amazing we have some who want to be teachers, senators, and even the President of the United States,” said Edwards’ mother Plater, who brags about a student who started with only a 1.9 grade point average and later brought it up to 3.5. These kids are smart and it was time for us to give back in a major way, I am so happy that the first class is graduating,” adds Edwards.
