16-year-old among dozens of teens graduating from college in Crown Heights

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn – Dozens of brilliant teens graduated from college Thursday, years ahead of their colleagues and on a track to make a real difference in their families and their communities.

Shudon Brown is among 27 dynamic teenagers at P-Tech in Crown Heights who graduated with their associate degrees. She’s just 16 years old.

Among her first goals? Brown said she’s going to use her skills to make “the best website” and help her mother establish a daycare in their neighborhood.

Hundreds of graduates just like her have graduated from the school, often coming from the poorest neighborhoods and who are the first to graduate from college in their families, rising themselves but also pulling their families out of poverty.

“They life themselves, their families, their communities,” said Stanley Litow, from IBM. “(They) demonstrate what is really possible.”

Brown, who is now among the first in line for a job thanks to her school’s partnership with IBM, has motivated her own mother to go back to school.

“I cry every day,” La Don Brown said. “How proud I am of what she is making, what she has done.”

The school’s principal said it’s all about access and every day he learned from his students.

“They teach you something,” he said. “They teach me all the time to challenge the system. Sometimes I’m not going fast enough.”