Tycianna Caldwell grew up with a tumultuous home life. Her family struggled financially, causing her to get bullied at school for not having brand-name clothes like so many others had. Her mom was basically a single parent; Tycianna’s father, when at home, cheated on her mother and often abused her. “He was basically out running the streets – you know, he drank a lot,” said Tycianna. She was 10 years old when her dad left, without a word to his family. They didn’t hear from him again until 8 months later when they received a life-changing phone call. Her father had suffered a massive stroke and would be unable to care for himself. “I had to take a step back and learn to forgive him,” Tycianna explained. She takes care of her father still to this day. “I just had to accept my emotions and understand he was sorry because he couldn’t say it himself.”

Tycianna always made good grades despite what was going on at home. “That’s the one thing I was confident in, that I was always good at.” She was even the Valedictorian at her high school, maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout her academic career. Tycianna knew she would be applying for scholarships, hoping to find one that would help her continue her education. She discovered the Brian Caubarreaux Do It Right Scholarship through email and decided to apply. She was ecstatic when she got the call that she would be receiving the scholarship. “It was like God telling me, ‘This is for you. This is what I want you to do. Now all you have to do is apply yourself,’” Tycianna thought when she got the news.

Ecstatic to begin this new chapter in her life, she is beyond thankful for Brian Caubarreaux’s scholarship program and hopes to see it continue in the future. “Anybody willing to help out a complete stranger and put faith in someone else’s dreams – someone that he hasn’t met or known on a personal level – I’m thankful for him and people like him,” she spoke of Brian. “I just hope he continues to be a blessing to other people like he was to me.”