Federal Way teenager Khairi Perry went to Thursday’s Beyonce/Jay-Z concert in Seattle just expecting to have a good time.
He left $100,000 wealthier.
Perry, 17, was awarded a six-figure college scholarship at the concert by the BeyGood and Shawn Carter Foundations. BeyGood was started by Beyonce, and Shawn Carter is her husband Jay-Z’s real name.
For Perry, the award is life-changing.
“It’s mind boggling,” he told The News Tribune Sunday. “All my focus is on graduating high school and getting into college and pursing my dream.”
Perry had no idea he was being considered for the scholarship.
“I was lost in the moment until my name was called,” Perry said.
For the last four years, Perry has been living in motels, shelters and with family.
“Currently, I’m living with friends,” he said Sunday.
Perry told the Federal Way Mirror in 2017 that he and his family had lived in their car from time to time.
“Even when I got older and started to understand my situation, I still didn’t ask questions because I figured no one could answer them,” Perry told the Mirror. “I would try to find an answer myself. When that was a dead end, it was school and sports that were there for me.”
His situation became so dire he contemplated suicide.
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