GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — While most kids are sleeping in on the weekends, Aidan Feuerstein is hard at work on the golf course.
"It's not always the easiest thing waking up early on a Saturday morning on the summer and coming to the golf course," Feuerstein said.
The Forest Hills Eastern High School graduate has spent an average of 4-to-5 hours every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday on the links caddying.
"It's great," Feuerstein said. "I love it. You get your steps in. You talk with all of the golfers, make new relationships, it's a great job. The key is to just try to have fun. Be friendly with the golfers. They'll talk you right through it. It won't be that scary."
It's a job Feuerstein has kept since he was 12 years old at the Blythefield Country Club in hopes of earning a Chick Evans Scholarship, which gives caddies a full ride to attend college. The 18-year-old got a letter in the mail letting him know he earned the scholarship and immediately exhaled.
"It was great," Feuerstein said. "Breathtaking. I was super nervous reading it, and then when I saw it, it was a breath of fresh air. Great relief. It was great."
It was a great moment for Aiden's mom Jennifer, who has raised Aidan and his two siblings as a single mother for 15 years.
"I would have never been able to afford this opportunity to them," Jennifer said. "They would have had to get loans or just bypass going to college so for the opportunity of the Evans foundation to award these students scholarships, it just changes their future and it changes their lives."
Western Golf Association board member Tom Coomes led this life changing decision for the Feuerstein's. He says it was quite an easy choice to hand Aidan the highly touted scholarship.
"Obviously, [he is] hardworking," Coomes said. "He had a lot of rounds in. Outstanding character. Very hardworking. Very high academic performance and most importantly, he had the financial need to go to college otherwise he would not have been able to attend college."
Feuerstein will study criminal justice at Michigan State in the fall on a full ride, and he couldn't be more thrilled.
"It saves a lot of money," Aidan said. "It sets me ahead. After college, I won't be in debt very much. I can just start making money right away. When you work your way through it and it pays off about $125,000 for college. It's really worth it."
Believe it or not, Aidan is not the first Feuerstein to earn the Evans Scholarship. So did his older brother Tyler, who graduated from the University of Michigan. His little sister, Ava, is 15 years old and caddying as well in hopes of one day earning the same scholarship as her brothers.
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