For greater than a dozen years, the APRO Charitable Basis has yearly offered scholarships to rent-to-own professionals and their households. APRO members have contributed generously to the APRO Scholarship Fund – awarding 447 scholarships totaling $1,001,750 up to now – empowering college students related with RTO to pursue school levels and profitable futures.
Arkansas native Brayden McCauley – certainly one of this 12 months’s 29 deserving APRO scholarship recipients – is, in accordance with certainly one of his high-school academics, “an exquisite mixture of steely willpower and lighthearted enjoyable … with a fast, sharp thoughts [that] strikes simply between the STEM fields and the humanities.”
McCauley, 18, opted to flex his power in arithmetic as a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering – with a minor in entrepreneurship – on the College of Arkansas.
“I’ve at all times had a robust ardour for the STEM area, and since I really like working with my fingers and problem-solving, I really feel certain I’ll achieve mechanical engineering,” McCauley notes. “I hope to land a job at an automotive firm, designing new applied sciences for vehicles.”
Brayden’s dad, Ben McCauley, has been the Common Supervisor of EAKER LLC, dba Citadel Rental in Rogers, Arkansas, since earlier than Brayden was born.
“I’ve witnessed firsthand how necessary and critically vital rent-to-own is for a whole lot of shoppers, and simply how optimistic and impactful it may be,” attests Brayden. “Many good folks lack the means to acquire the furnishings, home equipment, and electronics they want from a retailer, and RTO gives a straightforward, versatile answer for them that most individuals worth and respect.”
It was this understanding of rent-to-own that spurred Brayden to speak about it to a brand new good friend in want.
Brayden remembers when the good friend’s household moved into his neighborhood, “they didn’t have a lot. Solely an outdated couch, a espresso desk, and a few mattresses. I had rapidly grow to be good associates with their son, so I instructed them about RTO.”
The household desperately wanted a fridge, washer/dryer, and bed room furnishings, so that they went to Citadel and inside 24 hours, they’d the objects of their dwelling. They’ve since paid off and personal the home equipment and furnishings, and have rented and paid off many different objects, as effectively.
Brayden says studying to present and obtain assist has been one of many largest life classes he has discovered in his younger life.
“I used to imagine perseverance was all I wanted to succeed, and I may obtain something alone,” remembers Brayden. “It took years of persistently falling wanting my targets for me to grasp that nobody actually achieves nice issues solely on their very own; all of us want others to encourage us, problem us, and assist us develop. Actually profitable persons are humble sufficient to acknowledge their very own shortcomings and struggles, and to achieve out to individuals who will help them overcome.”
Brayden has labored arduous to be a kind of helpers. “As an instructional tutor, I’ve helped others obtain in superior arithmetic,” he notes. “By means of a Large Brother mentorship program, I’ve been an encourager to an 11-year-old child who actually wants a good friend. And thru my very own health group, Summit Bodybuilding, I’ve helped different youngsters achieve not solely the next stage of bodily health but in addition a way more optimistic self-image.”
For Brayden McCauley, his APRO scholarship is a vital help in filling a monetary hole that may let him graduate as a debt-free Razorback.
“Once I’ve wanted assist, I’ve not hesitated to ask for it from those that had been keen to supply it,” he concludes. “And I’m the higher for it.”
Brayden’s is without doubt one of the dozens of optimistic tales that beneficiant donations from the RTO group make occur annually. Click on right here to study extra and contribute to this invaluable trade effort.