Darwin Sweetman will have a $10,000 boost in his college finances this year.
Wal-Mart announced Thursday that it had given Sweetman a $10,000 Walton Family scholarship. About 150 of the scholarships are given each year to the children or dependents of Wal-Mart employees.
Sweetman, a recent graduate of Northern Heights High School, plans to attend Emporia State University and become a math teacher. He was president of the student council his senior year.
“I was a math tutor this year at school and I was pretty good at it, so I decided I was going to teach it,” Sweetman said.
His mother, Joyce, is an accounting associate with Wal-Mart. His dad, Joe, is a former maintenance associate with the store.
Sweetman and his family found out about the award while school was still in session. His mother was the first to be told and quickly called Sweetman, who was just finishing up a model rocket in physics class.
Thankfully, he wasn’t working on anything explosive at the time.
“I was like, ‘Holy crap!’” Sweetman said, laughing.