Thirteen-year-old Prodigy Headed to Jackson State - Shayon Ghosh - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 14, 2000

JACKSON, MISS.

A 13-year-old prodigy from Jackson is the youngest person to be admitted to Jackson State University's honors college.

Shayon Ghosh from Jackson Preparatory School had a perfect score on the ACT college entrance exam.

His father, Kunal Ghosh, is chairman of the university's department of physics, atmospheric sciences and general sciences, and his mother, Susmita Ghosh, is a research associate in the school of science and technology.

"They will be there for me," Shayon Ghosh says of his parents. "Everybody around here knows me. They have been nice to me so far."

But if the Ghosh family can find a family in Pittsburgh, Pa., willing to act as host parents, Ghosh will attend Carnegie-Mellon University next year. He has already been accepted and promised more than $15,000 a year in scholarship aid. Ghosh, who has a total of $27,000 a year in scholarship funds, plans to participate in work study to earn the $7,000 extra needed to attend Carnegie-Mellon.