2022 Winner of the Best Third Goal Effort: LUCKY: An African Student, An American Dream, and a Long Bike Ride

by Brooke Marshall

Malawi 2013–15

Poverty, hunger, disease, and a damaged education system prevent most rural Malawian students from finishing high school. Even if you’re persistent, gifted, and lucky enough to graduate with honors, college is prohibitively expensive. You could be the smartest kid in school and still end up working as a subsistence farmer for the rest of your life.

What if these students could go to college in America? To try to answer this question, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Brooke Marshall rode a bicycle from Raleigh to Seattle, visiting universities and telling them about the potential of students from the African village.

This is a story about her journey, the people she met, and what she learned on the way. It’s about what happens when you try to change the world: the good, the bad, and the awkward. And it’s a passionate plea for everyone — whether it’s a student from the African village or a teenager from a small Indiana town — to chase their dreams.

Brooke writes:

“During my time in Peace Corps Malawi, I met a lot of talented students who wanted to go to college, but couldn’t afford it. This is unjust. Poor people deserve access to higher education — in fact, they’re the ones who need it most.

So I biked across North America to visit universities and inform admissions officers about the potential of African students from the village.”

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Lucky: An African Student, An American Dream, and a Long Bike Ride
Brooke P Marshall (Malawi 2013–15)
Atramental Publishing
July 2021
257 pages
$12.00 (paperback), $5.00 (Kindle)