Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas is frustrated that the pressing crises of our time, like the economy, terrorism and health care, are overshadowing real talk about education. He worries, as he told PEOPLE Magazine, that “we could have a nation full of dummies.”

That’s why he’s bankrolling the college education of four friends.

Will.i.am, whose real name is William James Adams Jr., did the calculus after deejaying a party and realized he could put three people through school with his earnings. Combined with his belief that real success is marked by lifting up others along with you, and the star who never went to college himself decided to create the i.am scholarship fund.

But a free education isn’t the only boon for the four freshmen: they also get to join the Black Eyed Peas backstage at concerts; they will each land an internship at Will.i.am’s social networking site Dipdive.com, and a guaranteed job there upon graduation; and if their grades stay good, they get to pick a country anywhere in the world each year for the next four years to visit with the band.

These days when he hears a Black Eyed Peas jam, scholarship winner Elijah Williams thinks of hitting the books instead of the clubs.

“I think I should go do homework or something,” the Wilmington University freshman said.

Don’t phunk with that GPA.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.