T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Ohio University Eastern Dean David Rohall, left, and attorney Michael Shaheen, right, pose for a photo with the first Jimmy Shaheen Scholarship recipient, Nathan Brown. Michael Shaheen endowed the scholarship at Ohio University Eastern in 2019 to honor his late brother Jimmy Shaheen’s legacy.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Nathan Brown, a freshman majoring in middle childhood education, is the first Jimmy Shaheen Scholarship winner at Ohio University Eastern.

Brown graduated from Union Local High School in 2021.

“I am honored to receive this scholarship,” Brown said. “This scholarship will help me finance my education, and it will encourage and allow me to stay in the community to get my degree close to home.”

Local attorney Michael J. Shaheen endowed a scholarship at Ohio University Eastern in 2019 to honor his older brother Jimmy Shaheen’s legacy.

“I want to give back and honor my brother in a way that is consistent and meaningful to the community,” Shaheen said. “I hope that each student who receives this scholarship at OHIO Eastern will have the same compassion for kids as Jimmy did, and this will help them complete their education.”

Brown is enrolled in the middle childhood education program with a mathematics and social science emphasis.

“I originally planned to be a music teacher, but I would have had to travel to Athens and leave home (to study). I wanted to stay close to home and take advantage of the affordable tuition at the regional campus,” Brown said. “I am confident that I will receive a quality education at OHIO Eastern. “

Upon graduation, Brown plans to apply for a position in the Ohio Valley as a middle school math teacher.

“I feel I am the person that can make math fun and help students understand math,”he said.

Like Brown, Jimmy Shaheen wanted to help kids. He worked in Steubenville schools and at the School of Bright Promise with students in special education programs or who had other challenges.

“My brother was not an outstanding student as a youth, but he was well-liked and was known throughout the community for being a man who truly cared about people and children, especially those who had academic or development disadvantages or challenges of their own,” Shaheen said.

The endowed scholarship will be awarded annually to a student accepted for admission to Ohio University Eastern. To honor Jimmy’s passion for helping children, the student must have demonstrated financial need, and preference will be given to students majoring in education.

“Not only would he approve of this scholarship, but I feel it’s something he would have wanted,” Shaheen said of his late brother.