A Chicago teenager has been accepted to over 30 colleges and has received over $1 million in scholarships
Stephen Thomas, a senior at Chicago’s Bogan Computer Technical High School, has been given admission to over 30 universities and been awarded over $1 million in scholarships.
The Chicago, Illinois, 17-year-old will be graduating with a 4.47 GPA this summer and on top of being a straight-A student, is part of many extracurriculars in and out the classroom.
“The ones that come to me off the top of my head are Loyola, North Central, Northern Illinois, Eastern Illinois, and DePaul,” Thomas said in a local news footage when asked about his acceptance offers.
Thomas was raised by a single mother in a family of seven siblings. He says he’d like to utilize his tale to bring motivation to those like him who have faced difficulty but want to continue in achieving their ambitions.
“I won’t just be another Black youngster on the news for something horrible like gang violence or being unfairly shot when I’m known. I want people to look at me and go, ‘wow, he’s actually out there doing something we didn’t think we could accomplish just because of how we looked,'” Thomas said.
Ericka, his mother, is a teacher and Thomas’ first teacher.
“No matter what life presents you just go for it you write your own story we know there are narratives out here about our Black boys but it is our responsibility to change that narrative,” she explained.
The high school senior humbly believes that by putting in the effort, others would be inspired to do the same, and that unfavorable prejudices about Black boys will be dispelled. He aspires to further his education and become a psychologist.
“As a student, just keep your head down, blinders on and think about the end goal. Whatever is going on in your life, it will pass – just make sure you’re keeping yourself first and keep doing what needs to be done,” Thomas added.
“It’s not impossible. Again, I am just a kid from Chicago that put the work in and put the time in, and (hopefully) somebody else is seeing this and they’re like ‘wow I can do it too,’” he also said.
