When it comes to racking up those college acceptance letters and coins for his tuition, one high school senior has got it covered.
According to KVUE, Samuel Lyons is the Franklin High School (FHS) senior who has not only been admitted to 40 colleges but has been offered more than $1.6 million in scholarship money too.
While the admission letters keep rolling in, it’s still only the beginning of May, so a guidance counselor at the school reveals that the list could continue to grow.
“We started in August 2020 doing his college applications and he has diligently been working at home applying to colleges while virtual,” shared Guidance Counselor Ale Massenburg. “I do not believe this is all of his scholarship money or acceptance letters. We have completed several other scholarships from different organizations that we are waiting on. I believe that he will get those also.”
Thus far Lyons has been admitted to the University of Richmond, George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Ferrum College all located in the state of Virginia.
Currently, his sights have been set upon Virginia Commonwealth University located in the state’s capital, Richmond, where Lyons has received the VCU Engineering Progressive Award in the amount of $30,000.
“It was very time-consuming,” shared Lyons. “I had to manage my time while applying to so many schools and doing virtual learning. I didn’t really know what to expect since it was my first time applying to colleges. I didn’t expect to get offered so much in scholarship money.”
Per Massenburg, she’s never seen a student receive so many acceptances or scholarship offers during her tenure at FHS.
“Sam Lyons has been accepted into 40 colleges with a total amount of scholarships awarded of $1.6 million,” continued Massenburg. “He is the first student since I’ve been at FHS to have been accepted into this many colleges and earned this huge amount of scholarship money by himself.”
For Lyons, he’s thankful to everyone who’s been a stepping stone toward his success.
“I want to thank Ms. Massenburg and all of the teachers that taught me; each one contributed to my success,” he expressed.
The 18-year-old will graduate in June and has plans to pursue a career in computer engineering before ultimately returning to Franklin to serve as a mentor for kids.