Bob CollinsF5….F5….F5….
Ayrton Little, 16, Opelousas, La., just kept hitting “refresh” this week, waiting for word on whether he was accepted to Harvard under the university’s early acceptance program.
He was.
All the hard work was worth it. I got accepted to Harvard at 16!! 😭😭😭 #Harvard #Harvard2022 pic.twitter.com/KjW3pAF0VG
— Tha Little Man (@AyrtonLittle) December 13, 2017
On Friday, Then it was his older brother’s turn to find out if he got accepted to Stanford.
He did.
I can’t believe I got in 😂😂😭😭 #Stanford2022 pic.twitter.com/pYF7a6PTWY
— Alex Tha Great (@thealexlittle_) December 9, 2017
“Friends and family were there, but the majority of it was my school,” Ayrton tells WBUR. “We’re a really small school. There’s only 16 in our graduating class, and me and my brother are two of those 16.”
“Seeing Ayrton also doing it,” said his brother, Alex, “those goals we set for each other kind of caused us to become real competitive and push each other to do the best we can.”
“Is this really happening?” The boys’ mother, Maureen Little, kept repeating the question, delighted that both her sons were invited to the prestigious schools.
She said there were difficult times raising her sons as a single mom, but she felt lucky that she never had to worry about their performances in school.
“They brought home good grades,” she said.
“Who do you credit more,” Ayrton asked, “us or you?”
“I think it’s you,” Alex told his mom. She replied with a laugh.
“You think it’s me?” she said. “I think because you saw what I was going through, y’all didn’t want to disappoint me, maybe. So you just did well.”
She added that when people ask how she raised such bright kids, she credits multitasking. She was a culinary teacher, and that meant her sons often “played school,” helping her prep lessons and meals.
