Texas teen gets into 20 colleges, receives full rides to all of them

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iStock/Thinkstock(HOUSTON) — A Texas teen got into 20 colleges with full scholarships to each one, leaving his mother “in awe,” she said.

“I’m very grateful, I’m very thankful,” Berthinia Rutledge-Brown told ABC News. “I know that he has done an amazing job, and I get to watch him every day. It’s just normal to me.”

Micheal Brown, 17, is a senior at Lamar High School in Houston. He got into schools including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and Georgetown.

Brown’s mom describes him as “hardworking” and “caring.”

“He wants this to be an example and inspiration for other kids that if they work hard and use their resources, they can do whatever they set their minds to,” Rutledge-Brown said.

Brown is part of a program called EMERGE Fellowship. According to its website, the program “empowers and prepares high performing students from underserved communities to attend and graduate from selective colleges and universities across the nation.”

Rutledge-Brown said that although she knew her son had the grades to get scholarships, she never imagined anything like this.

“This has exceeded anything I ever thought. When I went to college I paid for it myself,” Rutledge-Brown said. “I really knew that when we went to the EMERGE orientation and saw the people that came back to speak, he would be able to go to school.”

Rutledge-Brown said Brown isn’t quite sure what school he wants to go to yet, but she has an idea of which one he will pick. She said regardless of where her son goes, he plans to study political science or economics and participate on a debate team.

His ultimate goal is to go to law school.

“He wants to come back to Houston and work in the community,” Rutledge-Brown said.

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