For most of us who went to college, it was a nerve wrecking decision. There was so much to consider: Was it the right school for you? Was it just the school your parents wanted you go? Could you afford it? Taking all of that into account, there was one question that had to get answered first: Did you get accepted?
That question was answered this week with cheers heard all over the world when 16-year-old Ayrton Little, got accepted to his first choice school, Harvard University.
In the video posted on twitter, you see him scrolling through the computer, anxiously wating to see his status, and when he does, his classmates and staff around him erupt into cheers. Smiles and tears of joy are on the faces of everyone after Little learns the news.
But there’s so much more to this story.
This is the third year in a row that a student from TM Landry College Preparatory in Breaux Bridge, La., is going to Harvard.
According to their website, T.M. Landry’s mission is dedicated to promoting each child’s self worth and dignity in a supportive, educational and safe environment while preparing them to prosper and flourish in a culturally diverse, technological society. T.M. Landry’s goal is that every child not only gets into, but gets THROUGH college. T.M. Landry is an independent co-educational year round college prep school.
TM Landry has a tradition of filming students as they learn whether they got into college, and posting the (happy) results. Check out a series of reactions on the school’s Facebook page.
The same day Little heard he got into Harvard, he posted a video of his older brother, Alex, learning he got into Stanford University. Oh, and it’s important to note that Alex, who plans to major in physics and computer science, earned a full ride scholarship.
Ayrton Little joined his brother’s graduating class after skipping a grade. He turns 17 in February, reports member station WBUR.
“Is this really happening?” their mother, Maureen Little, kept saying about her sons getting into two of the country’s most competitive universities. She said that while as a single mom it was challenging at times to raise her sons, she never had to worry about how they were doing in school.
“I think because you saw what I was going through, y’all didn’t want to disappoint me, maybe. So you just did well,” she said, according to WBUR.
The brothers said that it’s not only the staff and village of family and friends are the key to their success, it’s also the spirit of their other brother. Their youngest brother, who would have been 13 this month, died five years ago following an asthma attack.
Little told told The Huffington Post that he now feels as if his life has been forever changed. “My brother and I realized that we have done the impossible,” he said. He plans to study math and computer science at his “dream school” and later hopes to build a nonprofit to help other kids in his community “get to the position that I’m currently in.”
This journey to this starting point is summed up in the poem that is posted on T.M. Landry’s website, that acts like a mantra:
I AM A COLLEGE GRADUATE!
Take Charge, This Day
And Set Your Sights High
Search Inside Yourself
And Find Your Hopes and Dreams
Then Make a Plan…
…To Achieve Those Goals
Move Along, Step by Step
To Realize your Aspirations
Do not be Distracted
By Doubts and Fears
Be Steady and Strong
Study Long and Hard
Be Committed in Your Dreams
And then You Will See
Your Goals Come to Fruition
As the Years Go By
Congratulations, College Graduates
The World is Yours for the Taking
Go Out and Take Whatever You Want
Today is the Day to Set Your Sights High
Today You Have Completed Your Degree
Tomorrow, Your Dreams Begin to Grow
By: Darrin Atkins
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