CARROLLTON, Ga. -- Many of us look back our early teen years and recall fond memories. But when 13-year-old Kimora Hudson reminisces in a few years, she'll be looking back on when she first started college.
That's because, at 13, she's the youngest person attending the University of West Georgia this Fall.
A story shared by the university shows, however, that this isn't something that merely happened without effort. The young woman set this goal long ago.
In fourth grade, she learned of students graduating from college before even getting their high school diplomas. And as Jessica Murphy, a public relations major at UWG, describes in her interview with the upcoming student, this became Hudson's goal.
It turns out that while hard work no doubt played the leading role in her success, Hudson also benefited from a change at the state level.
“It was ironic that the year she was going into ninth grade the laws changed to allow the advanced ninth graders a chance, so I said this is it,” her mother said in Murphy's interview. “As soon as she applied and got accepted they took away the ninth grade component. So when that happened, I knew this was meant to be.”
The dual-enrollment program was previously offered to tenth, eleventh and twelfth-grade students.
Hudson already had taken a couple of classes for fun at Vanderbilt University over the last two summers. But now she's excited to take in the full college experience complete with intramural sports and various campus organizations.
But the interview also points out that one of her major challenges will be making the switch from a middle school schedule to a college one. But she seems to be more than ready for the academic trials ahead of her.
“In middle school, people don’t want to be there, but in college, everyone will be serious and focused on learning," she said. "It will be a more serious environment.”
Read Jessica Murphy's full story on this fall's youngest UWG student at: bit.ly/2grebMZ
