Ryan Jamar Henry of Durham is the recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Walmart Foundation First Generation Scholarship.

Ryan is the proud son of Dawn Henry of Durham, North Carolina and Robert Henry of Alpharetta, Georgia. His grandparents are Alice Richardson of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lorraine Henry of Elizabethtown, North Carolina and retired Colonel Daniel (Pamela) McFadgen of Woodbridge, Virginia. His great-grandparents are Thelma Prescott of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Glendell (Mary) Robinson of Elizabethtown, North Carolina.

Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court’s 96th justice and its first African-American justice. Before becoming a judge, Marshall was a lawyer who best known for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education, a 1954 decision that ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. According to Wikipedia, the Walmart Foundation First Generation Scholars Program is only awarded to first generation students in their freshmen year of college.

Ryan was selected and responsible for writing an essay of a minimum of 500 words entitled “What does it mean to be the first person in your family to receive a college degree? What impact would this scholarship have on your education? The award is for one year and the student must be enrolled in college full time which is a minimum of 12 hours each semester. A student is required to maintain satisfactory academic progress to ensure financial award which is $6, 200 for a one time offer.

Ryan is a recent graduate of Leesville Road High School located in Raleigh, North Carolina, and completed high school with a grade point average of 3.0. Ryan will attend North Carolina Central University located in Durham, North Carolina this fall and major in Accounting.