17-year-old valedictorian skipping senior year to attend Stanford on $220K scholarship
Cash Lee Jones was 16 years old when he applied and was accepted into Stanford. He turned 17 a few months ago.
ATWATER, Calif. -- Ever since he was a little boy, Cash Lee Jones dreamed of attending Stanford University.
At just 16 years old and a junior in high school, his dream came early.
''It's been my dream school since I was a little kid, I was like OK I'll apply early and see what happens, and thankfully I got in and it blew my mind," Jones said.
Jones was born in Merced, California and raised in Atwater, California.
In the summer before going into seventh grade, he started taking university-level courses at Merced College with his sights set on becoming a cardinal.
So as soon as he could apply, he took the chance but kept it to himself, not telling any of his friends and family.
''The day I got in, I just started calling [my friends], Hey, this is going on. I'm really excited right now," Jones said. "My friends were like 'oh my goodness, I didn't know you were doing that,' so my friends were also very excited for myself.''
Aside from his 4.6 GPA, the wiz kid is also involved on his high school campus as a part of robotics, Key Club, ASB and his favorite, theater.
Jones, proud of his heritage and roots, comes from a family of refugees on his mom's side and dairy farmers on his dad's side.
''With my identity being half Portuguese and half Hmong, I think it's really important to embrace my identity and I really want to advocate for my culture," he said.
When asked what his dream is, Jones said it's to become an actor, with being a lawyer his backup option.
"I'm really passionate about studying TAPS, which stands for theater and performance studies, and I'm also excited about studying Symbolic Systems which is a cross curricular major in Humanities and STEM," He said.
Cash graduated from Merced College with his AA degree in history and economics last week, and in a matter of days, the now 17-year-old will walk across the stage as a junior graduating from Atwater High's as valedictorian.
He's also received a $220,000 scholarship from the university.
Cash's advice for any young scholars who wish to follow in his footsteps.
"I just stayed positive. I kept my head up. I just worked through it," he said.. "I just never gave up [...] keep persevering with that grit and determination and you'll make it here one day."
