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Eric Shellenberger was killed in a motorcycle accident two years ago near his home in Elkhart.
He never got the chance to go to college and fulfill his dream of becoming a culinary chef.
Now, his mother is helping others fulfill their dreams of going to college.
Cindy Olson established the Eric Scott Shellenberger Memorial Scholarship Fund to give scholarship money to high school students with learning disabilities.
Shellenberger, 20, was killed on June 19, 1995, on a road only one minute from his home when a truck pulling a bulldozer turned across the road in front of him. Shellenberger, on his motorcycle, struck the side of the bulldozer. Although he was wearing a helmet, Shellenberger suffered severe head injuries and died instantly.
"It's been really hard for me," Olson says. She didn't see her son after the accident because doctors said it would be better to remember him like he was.
Olson filed a lawsuit against the driver of the truck, and settled it right before Christmas. She has given the money won in the lawsuit to create her son's Memorial Scholarship Fund.
"There are no scholarships for kids who graduate from high school with learning disabilities," says Olson. She has committed to giving the annual scholarships out to schools in Eric's name for the next 20 years. "This was the only way to get over it."
Cindy Olson will be speaking at the Warsaw ADHD Support Group and telling her and her son's story on Jan. 26 at Lakeview Middle School.
Olson also made an annuity fund for Eric's sister and husband who are starting a family. The annuity will be for their children.
Olson will give the first scholarship this spring to a student in Concord High School, the school Eric attended. She has made a plaque with Eric's name and picture to list the names of students who receive the scholarship.
Each year, Olson plans to donate $2,200 out of the annuity, and has received a promise for that donation to be matched each year. Olson also said her lawyer in the lawsuit against the driver will donate $3,000 for the first year of the scholarship.
To get the scholarship, a student has to provide a letter from a teacher at the school stating the student has a learning disability. Olson will then look at the applications, pick out some students and interview them.
"All they have to do, when they get out [of school] is donate as much as they want back into the fund," Olson says.
Olson is asking for donations to the annuity at Key Bank from businesses and individuals, "so we can send these kids to school." She hopes to start chapters of the scholarship in as many cities as possible such as South Bend and Warsaw, so the money donated in each city will go to kids in that city.
"There are so many kids with this," Olson says, speaking of learning disorders. She says that much of the time they are "hidden handicaps."
