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Kim Johnson Reporting West High School will graduate one of its best and brightest students this spring. With help from a counselor, the teen has overcome incredible odds to secure a major scholarship and bright future that once didn't seem likely.
Eight-thousand students applied for it, only 20 in the whole country got it, and West High's own Bryant Watson was one of them. He'll put his 40-thousand dollar Ron Brown scholarship to good use at Notre Dame. It's a dream come true for a boy who, in spite of having few advantages, was determined to succeed at school.
Bryant Watson, Ron Brown Scholarship Recipient: "Growing up, I didn't have opportunities that lots of other kids had, in terms of having a stable home, stable school, going to the same school. I went to nine different elementary schools. That was pretty tough."
Bryant's mother raised him and his sister, Carmela, all by herself, until her untimely death two years ago.
Carmela Willden, U of U student: "Of course my mother's death when I was a junior was extremely hard, but I knew I had to get through it to achieve my goals."
Tuffy Watson, a counselor at West high, and his wife took the pair into his own family and encouraged them onward, Bryant at West High and Carmela a Larry Miller scholarship recipient at the U.
Bryant Watson: "You know he's just always been positive, encouraged me to apply for scholarships. I went to Cornell. He helped me get out there. I studied there last summer. Just really positive with everything I've done."
"Tuffy" Watson, West High Counselor: "I use them as an example all the time when I talk with kids and tell them, 'You know, if you want to do something with your life here are two children who've had it rough as anybody I've ever known, and they've succeeded.'"
And Watson says this dynamic duo will continue to succeed and to show others they can too.
"Tuffy" Watson: "Only once in a lifetime do you get to meet certain special people, and these are two of the special people that I've met in my life."
Bryant has been admitted to the US Military Academy at West Point, but he says he will study engineering and political science at Notre Dame. Carmela hopes to get either a masters degree or a law degree someday.
