There’s nothing like giving back and paying it forward, especially to the next generation.
That’s exactly what legendary actors Phylicia Rashad and Denzel Washington did when then Howard University student and now ‘This Is Us’ star Susan Kelechi Watson had the opportunity to study William Shakespeare at England’s prestigious University of Oxford, but couldn’t afford to go.
In a recent interview on “Live! with Kelly & Ryan,” Watson shared: “We were at Howard, there were like 10 of us who had the opportunity to learn Shakespeare at Oxford for the summer. They didn’t have many minority students, much less people from a historically Black university go, so we were one of the inaugural groups to go. But none of us had the the extra money to go.”
That was until one of Watson’s friends reached out to Rashad, also an alumni of Howard University, who then reached out to Denzel Washington. Together, the two paid for the entire trip.
“I’m happy to say he (Washington) paid for my scholarship to go and we went and had this amazing summer that changed all of our lives,” Watson said.
Watch Watson recall the incredible moment below.
Now that’s how you invest in the future of the next generation.