All Todd Craven wanted to do was help people, so he decided to become a lawyer.

Craven's journey to his juris doctorate will be a little less stressful as he was selected to receive the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law Fellows Award, which covers the cost of tuition for his law school degree.

Craven, who graduated in Fall 2018 with his bachelor's of science in Business Management from the Mike Ilitch School of Business (University honors co-major), said he was "very surprised" to learn he was selected for the scholarship. He applied to four different law schools, and while he was offered scholarships around the same amount, University of Detroit Mercy was the only one who called him in for an interview.

"I was happy. I was prepared and had put in all this hard work. Obviously, because of the Honors College, I knew what to expect," he said.

He credits his time as a student in the Honors College for the encouragement to take on civil and community engagement. "The Honors College has really showed me how to put forth more effort in the classroom and go above and beyond what is normally expected and they also taught me that school is important, but you are also supposed to give back," he said. "That really is what law school is about."

Craven also gives an enormous amount of credit to his professors in the Mike Ilitch School of Business. "The professors are not only skilled in the classroom, they are skilled in real-world scenarios, giving you real-world answers to some of your questions and issues you have," he said. "The professors really seem to care and they want you to do well. You're a student, but you're also part of a family. They're really looking out for you to do well."

While he knew he always wanted to go into family law, he earned his business management degree in order to, one day, help his father's real estate firm.

When he wasn't busy in class, he worked as a teaching assistant for the Global Supply Chain Department and took an active role in the business honors fraternity Beta Gamma Sigma.

His best advice for incoming students would be to get involved on campus.

"Join the clubs, join organizations, get involved with Honors and don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone," he said. "If you're not good with public service, you think you're nervous about conversing with people and helping out, just do it because it good for you to step outside your comfort zone."