Keynote Speaker Dr. Freeman Hrabowski Speaks to Sold Out Crowd at 2021 HeBrOpen

The 6th annual HeBrOpen is an event to honor the legacy and friendship of Charles Baum and Harry Lebow. Guests joined us for golf, pickleball, and a dinner buffet. We were honored to welcome Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, President of UMBC, to this year’s event as keynote speaker. He embraced the spirit of your generous giving by sharing these words, “The human experience is never linear. For all of us there are ups and downs; we get knocked down, we get back up. And it’s so important that as we think about those who support education, and those who are educators, that we remember the human spirit…and that people can do far more than we think they can do….There’s so much talent and what SEED does is critical: helping [students] to be safe; teaching them the meaning of support from people beyond the immediate family; in loving young people; in figuring out what it’s going to take from them to succeed.”

Since it's inception, the HeBrOpen Golf Tournament has raised more than $300,000 for SEED students. The tournament, which started out as a golf outing played by friends and family in memory of Charles Baum, blossomed into the HeBrOpen in 2018 when fellow HeBro Harry Lebow passed away. The friends, who shared a passion for golf and traveling also shared dedication to The SEED School of Maryland Harry believed in every student's right to dream.

As one of the founding members of the SEED Board of Trustees, he saw first-hand the impact it had on underestimated students and was inspired by the possibilities for the future. "Through the HeBrOpen, we honor Harry and Charles' memory and reinforce the belief that a student's potential should never be defined by their zip code," explained HeBrOpen co-chair, John Baum.