Dream Big participant Mitch Herndon is the winner of the 2018 Joe Barkofske Scholarship.

The Joe Barkofske scholarship fund was launched in 2013 to support students with physical disabilities pursuing higher education. Preference is given to students who plan to pursue undergraduate studies in the field of their choice. The Joe Barkofske scholarship fund provides $1,000 to an aspiring college student.

“Thank you very much for letting us know about the opportunity,” says Michele Herdon, Mitchell’s mom. “Mitch is still debating between SLU and Mizzou. He is a finalist for SLU’s Presidential Scholarship, which is a full tuition scholarship,” she reports. “If he receives that…he would choose SLU.”

Mitch is a senior at Affton High School. He experienced hearing loss at age 12 and does not speak sign language. He sometimes uses a wheelchair.

Mitch anticipates majoring in political science. He plans to be involved in the political realm, and attend law school.  “SLU has a pre-law scholars program where you have automatic acceptance into their law school, so we are hopeful that SLU will end up working out for him.”

Either way, we are happy that Mitch’s higher education is so well supported, whether he gets the SLU scholarship or not.

Mitch participated in the Dream Big Career Camp in June 2017, where he learned about many different career opportunities available to him. He also learned how to advocate for himself, use his disability as a strength, and prepare for college. We are very proud of Mitch and all of his accomplishments. Congratulations, Mitch!