William Nelson Jr. Scholarship

The William Nelson Jr. Scholarship was founded in 2018 by William Nelson himself. The scholarship was created to aid fearless, tenacious, hard-working dreamers who are pursuing a career in arts. From experience, Will knew how driven you have to be and also how hard it is it was mentally and financially to pursue your dreams. At first, Will decided to not pursue a career in music due to listening to what society says about having a career in music.  Before attending Berklee College of Music, he attended Rutgers University, pursuing a career in Civil Engineering. He went through the motions at Rutgers trying to figure out his true passion, when it existed in him all along since birth. A turning point in his life occurred in his psychology class when the professor put on a video that asked, "What would you do everyday of your life to make you happy if money was no object?". Nelson instantly thought of music! He immediately blocked out all fear and applied to the prestigious Berklee College of Music. He got accepted on a partial scholarship. Nelson then hit a financial/emotional road block after seeing the large amount of funds remaining on his term bill. But through God's grace and the help of loving family members, he has been able to attend Berklee for 7 consecutive semesters. 

 

By going through the mental and financial battles of pursuing his dreams, William Nelson decided that he wanted to help relieve this burden off some of his fellow colleagues. William Nelson Jr. in his senior year has saved his personal money from performing at gigs to fund this scholarship. His goal is simply to help others do what he has been blessed to do, which is to pursue his dreams. He says, "There is no better feeling than waking up and doing what you love!" He successfully awarded 5 Berklee students (4 of the recipients are in the picture above) $500 scholarships in his first year providing the scholarship. He plans to continue being a blessing to more students each year.