https://www.facebook.com/WCPO9/videos/10156114395373445/
A 24-year-old Black graduate is putting the term high achiever to shame since graduating from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and Xavier University’s Williams College of Business on the same day.
Darrell London Kelly and his family literally raced from one ceremony to the other. The Cincinnati, Ohio resident received two advanced degrees, one law degree and an MBA.
“Some kids do great. Some kids do wonderful. But when you go past great and get your master’s and turn into a lawyer, you do like the Bible says: exceedingly and abundantly… That’s where he went — exceedingly more than we ever asked for,” Richard Layson, who’s a family friend told WCPO.
Kelly admitted that support from family and his single mother kept him afloat.
“I was born to five generations of love, and I passed that on to them”, said the young man’s mother Lisa Kelly of her son and his older sister Jazmoné, who is in medical school. “If he’s tall, it’s because he’s standing on tall shoulders. He’s big because of the village, because of the friendships. He grew up with love.”
Kelly expressed his gratitude towards his mom and added, “It’s time for me to stand and leave the nest… She’s instilled me with all these tools and has guided me for so long.”
(Photo via: JAHBRIELLE HENNING-RAYFORD)
After Lisa divorced her husband when Darrell was a baby, she up and moved her family from Atlanta to Cincinnati. She said her son has always been brilliant and quick-witted from the start.
Coach Layson, who met Jazmoné and Darrell when they were kids at Marva Collins Preparatory School and played football for the Avondale Lions said, “He was a smart little dude… Him and his sister, Jaz, from the time they were six, they knew the periodic table. They learned that at Marva Collins.”