17-year-old Ridgeley Hudson Jr receives $2m in scholarships from 46 schools

Ridgeley Hudson Jr. lost his parents before reaching adulthood. Hudson’s mother died before he was 11 months old and the father when he clocked 14. Such tragedies would have re-calibrated the life of any other child but not Hudson.

And as Malcolm X once said, “There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time,” Hudson turned the tragic setbacks amid perseverance into success.

The 17-year-old genius just graduated from King High School in Detroit receiving multiple scholarships worth more than $2 million from schools all across the country.

“I never thought that I’d be here at this moment with scholarships to the tune of $2.3 million,” Hudson told Local 4 Detroit. “Normally you hear of student athletes getting those scholarships.”

Hudson was accepted in 46 schools across the country. “Michigan State, Alabama A&M, FAMU, DePaul University,” he said. “Wayne State, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, Morehouse, Georgia State, Hampton University.”

Hudson has decided to attend Michigan State University explaining that: “With the things that are going on currently, I didn’t want to choose an HBCU because I wanted to be a change in a different community.”

According to him, he opted for Michigan State University because it “had a real amazing education program, and so I decided to stay here and go to Michigan State” with Full ride and everything paid for.

 “It’s very inspirational to me during this time of all the uncertainty and all the injustice that we see going on in the country that a young Black man is successful,” Hudson said. “Or four, five young Black men from Martin Luther King Jr. High School is successful.”

“He was motivated, and when he wasn’t motivated, we motivated him,” Denise Barnes, Hudson’s high school counselor told Local 4 Detroit.

Meanwhile, Ronald McCullough another African American graduated from college two years ahead of his classmates. 

Considered a “child genius”, McCullough graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology honors at the age of 19.

With what many described as genius-level intelligence, McCullough skipped second grade altogether. He was 15 when he finished high school and 16 when he enrolled at Clark Atlanta University. 

“I would not consider myself a genius,” McCullough said, according to a statement released by the school. “I was placed in a setting for my love of learning to manifest. Much was expected of me and there was little room for disappointment.”