It's an opportunity bred from a place of pain.
This year, four recent Sumner Academy graduates will receive the first-ever Scott Sappington Memorial Book Scholarship.
"It came up, but no one really followed through with it," said Chris Cunninghman. "I decided, instead of talking about it, I would just put some action to it and here we are."
With his own money and the help of a GoFundMe page, Cunningham has $1,500 to split between this year's scholarship recipients.
It's something he says he wanted to do, not just for them, but for Scott Sappington.
Previous story: Wyandotte County jury convicts 15-year-old girl in murder of teen over a car
"He was very determined. He was ambitious," said Cunningham. "He wanted to have a better life for himself and for his family and we definitely agreed that going to college was the first step to making it happen, to bringing it into existence."
However, for Sappington, that didn't happen. The 16-year-old was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking in July 2008. His killer was a 13-year-old girl, who is now serving life in prison.
"He's always going to be one of those people I think about everyday," said Cunningham. "It's hard to shake the thought, especially with it being June now, summertime always replays the memories in my mind."
Sappington's friends decided to take that pain and turn it into a way to give back to the community, but first, they had to run the idea pass Sappington's mother.
"I had mixed emotions. You know, it makes me sad, but at the same time I was overjoyed because somebody thought about my child and the impact my child had on somebody else's life," Felicia Johnson said.
Johnson said Cunningham brought up the scholarship about a year ago, but she never thought they would actually go through with it.
"Chris and Scott had been friends for a long time, but i never knew," said Johnson. "You never know until a situation like this how important somebody's life is to you."
Cunningham said this is only the beginning. He plans to keep the Go Fund Me page open. Any money donated from now on will go towards next year's scholarship.
"I do want the scholarship to get bigger," said Cunningham. "This won't be our last year. I'll probably be doing this until I'm dead and gone."
-------