15-Year-Old Graduates College, Looks to Next Challenge

By Sean Yoes, Baltimore AFRO Editor, [email protected]

Torrington Ford, 15, who was homeschooled by his mother Tarita, says he constantly asked her to push him as a student.

“I would always tell my mom, mom I want a challenge, challenge me more,” Ford told reporter Danielle Ohl of the Capitial Gazette.

“Which was offensive to me,” Ford’s mother said as she laughed while sitting by her son’s side.

Well, it seems her son’s prodding worked, because he could read and write before most kids at his age could spell their names; and on May 24, at age 15, Ford graduated from Anne Arundel Community College with an associate’s degree with a concentration in science.

“In my opinion it’s a huge milestone,” Ford said. “I’ve come a long way since we first started this journey and I’m about to transition over to my next chapter in life, which is at Ohio State University in Columbus.”

Ford’s academic path to Ohio State at age 15 started when he was 2 and his mother made the decision to quit her job as an information systems professional at Fannie Mae and homeschool her son.

At age 12, Ford again pushed his mother to let him take the college entrance exam even though he was still in high school. She assumed her son wouldn’t pass the test—but of course he did. That began an arduous three-year journey that included high school homeschooling on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while simultaneously taking political science, college algebra and English classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Anne Arundel Community College.

Ford, who already knows how to land an airplane (although he doesn’t have his driver’s license) will study aviation engineering.

Torrington, Tarita and their dog Phoenix will move to Columbus, Ohio, in July for bridge classes to prepare Torrington for his fall course load.

Mother and son say God has been at the center of their lives and inspired many of choices that led them to this place.

Tarita Ford told the Gazette, “I can’t figure out where he got this (confidence and ambition) from,” she said.

Torrington offered a one word answer: “You.”