For Kareem Rutledge, a senior account representative at Atlantic City Electric, the Exelon Foundation Bright Futures Scholarship Program has helped brighten a dark period in his family’s lives. In 2018, his son, Kareem Rutledge Jr., was planning to attend the University of Delaware on a scholarship to pursue chemical engineering, when he suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“It was the spring of his senior year of high school when the injury happened,” Kareem explains. “His doctors said he might not survive the emergency operation he needed. And they said, if he did, he wouldn’t walk again.”

Thankfully, Kareem Jr. came through the surgery, but his path to recovery was a long one. “He was in a coma and when he woke up, he didn’t talk for over a month. He was in the hospital until October and had to relearn a lot of things. It took him over a year, but he did learn to walk again.”

With his injury and long road to recovery, Kareem Jr. and his family decided for him to pursue an associate degree at Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ), where the campus and school disability services could help him achieve his goals. Kareem graduated and walked across the stage at RCSJ in May 2023, but he still wanted to pursue his dream of completing a bachelor’s program.

“When he told us he wanted to continue with his bachelor’s, we knew we were going to need to take it slow,” Kareem says. “He was taking one to two classes max, but his junior year was the first year he was able to do a full-time course load, just physically and mentally, because of the brain injury he sustained.”

The Exelon Foundation Bright Futures Scholarship Program provided Kareem with the financial support needed to continue his education. In partnership with Scholarship American, Inc., this scholarship is awarded to 50 children whose parents are Exelon employees.

“This scholarship has allowed me to be one step closer to being a debt free graduate and an overall independent adult,” Kareem Jr. says.

For Kareem Jr., now in his senior year at Southeastern University in Florida studying human services, this scholarship will help him achieve his goals to not only to receive a bachelor’s degree, but also pursue a career where he can provide individuals with the help they need.

“He now wants to really help people after his injury and work for an organization that provides that type of support,” Kareem says. “He’s very excited because he’s interning for the Salvation Army this summer doing work he wants to pursue after school. He’s just such an inspiration, and it’s a testament to his determination and high spirits.”

The Exelon Foundation is committed to powering a better future including focusing on
funding education and workforce development programs, energizing communities
and supporting employee philanthropy. To learn more about the Exelon Foundation, visit www.ExelonFoundation.org.