Travon Wallace is a big guy. As a starting lineman on Washington High School’s near-champion football team this school year, he no doubt inspired fear in the hearts of opponents on the field. But all it takes is a conversation with Wallace and a few things become obvious: he’s nice; he’s kind of cheerful; and he’s a really, really hard worker.

This year, in addition to playing football, running track, working part time at Hardees and scorekeeping for Pam Pack basketball, Wallace embarked on a senior project that would raise money for a scholarship to the weeklong Young Life camp in Windy Gap.

He did it because he’d had the same scholarship extended to him just last year.

“I went to Windy Gap over the summer for free and I just thought, ‘Why not give back?’ Young Life has given so much to me, I wanted to give back,” Wallace said.

With the help of his senior project mentor, and Pamlico Young Life director, Tom Johnson, Wallace came up with a way to raise money: a 50/50 raffle, the proceeds for which would pay for the scholarship.

Wallace spoke about his project at Washington’s Church of the Good Shepherd. He let people at the high school know what he was doing. Not only did tickets start selling, donations came pouring in.

“The biggest number of people who bought tickets were the students at Washington High School. That shocked me,” Wallace said. “I was actually scared I wasn’t going to sell enough tickets.”

In the end, Wallace raised enough money to pay for one full scholarship and a partial scholarship for another kid, according to Johnson.

“I think it just shows that he is willing to give back. In a day where a lot of kids wouldn’t, Travon was kind and thoughtful enough to think of a way to give back to Young Life the way it given to him,” Johnson said. “Travon really seemed to latch on to Young life. I’m just proud of him. He’s just a good kid, you know?”

Wallace said the project was a good experience for him — that he got the results he was looking for, which is a lesson he’ll take with him to North Carolina Central University in the fall.