EAST LANSING – Michigan State University honors one student every year with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Endowed Scholarship. Shanawar Lone, a law school student at MSU, was the recipient of this year’s scholarship.

According to the university, the scholarship is given to students who “through their stewardship, become society’s leaders by actively engaging in building inclusive communities in ways that fight injustice and promote equality for all on every possible level.”

Lone has been very active in his time at Michigan State. He is the founder and president of MSU Law Democrats. One of the main reasons Lone started this organization last spring was to “bring folks together from all walks of life.”

His accomplishments while at Michigan State are just an extension of what Lone has been doing since he was a child. Lone began finding his love for community organizing in his early teen years when he raised thousands of dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This money was used to help other children get the opportunity to meet famous skateboarder Tony Hawk.

From there, Lone said he could see what good he was capable of doing for others if he put his mind to it. Lone was inspired by former president Barack Obama while working for his fellowship, Organizing For America.

After receiving the Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship, Lone said that he would use the money to help finish paying for his education. When he leaves MSU, his goal is to use all that he has learned and experienced to make the world a better place.

Running for public office and becoming the governor of Michigan is on the list of goals Lone wishes to accomplish. He also wants to find a way to mix his passions together and use his creative side to make a platform that fuses law, entertainment, sports and more. Sports issues, like women athletes gaining equal pay to their male counterparts and athletes in general being able to express themselves, are important to Lone.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Michigan State hosted a community conversation to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. King. Christine So, a senior at Michigan State, was the co-host of the event and presented Lone with the scholarship. 

So is the chief D.E.I. officer for ASMSU, the student government at Michigan State. She called Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship a “highly-esteemed” scholarship at the university. So also said that Lone’s accomplishments were impressive. “He (Lone) definitely is very deserving of the scholarship,” she said, “ Just looking at all the different communities he has served, including his own.”

“Knowing that I had the opportunity to present such an important  and impactful scholarship to support another student who has shown immense work is very flattering and humbling,” said So.