Teacher’s kid, football star at Whale Branch receives full ride to study engineering
Jaylen Roberts has been going to school since before he was born, according to his mother Angela Roberts.
She was in college studying physics when she was pregnant with him, and when she became an eighth-grade science teacher at Whale Branch Middle School, he would tag along with her to work and then walk across the campus to attend Whale Branch Elementary.
“All the teachers that are here, he’s almost like their children because he was here so much,” she said.
He inherited a love of school and science from his mother that’s served him well: At Whale Branch Early College High School, he’s played on the football and basketball teams and maintained a GPA above a 3.5 for his entire senior year, all while holding a part-time job at Walmart.
On Wednesday, he will graduate from Whale Branch Early College High School with two associate degrees in arts and science from Technical College of the Lowcountry — enough to make him a junior when he steps onto South Carolina State University’s campus in the fall to study civil engineering.
“I’ve just always been interested in how things work and the science behind it,” Jaylen said.
His tuition, room and board will be paid for by the USDA/1890 National Scholars Program, which funds students at historically Black colleges and universities studying agriculture, food, natural resource sciences and related fields.
He’ll also have summer internships throughout his college career with USDA in Wisconsin — the state sponsoring his scholarship — and a guaranteed job there after graduation for the number of years he uses the scholarship.
Angela Roberts said she found out about the scholarship through a “messenger angel” at Whale Branch’s senior night basketball game. A man approached her after hearing Jaylen’s plans to attend college and major in engineering during the senior tribute and asked if he’d considered the USDA program.
Shortly after, Jaylen contracted COVID-19 and was forced to quarantine over Christmas. While sick and stuck at home, he managed to squeak out his scholarship application by the deadline. ”It was tough, but it worked out, obviously,” he said.
Jaylen learned he had won the scholarship on Monday. He decommitted from Savannah State University, where he had signed on in March to play football, and began preparing for his new path.
Father Travis Roberts described Jaylen as a “laid-back and quiet kid” who is also a “self-motivator.”
“We don’t have to get on him about completing assignments or anything,” he said.
And Angela Roberts said she wants people to know that Jaylen took every opportunity that Beaufort County School District provided. He attended its First Steps program, which begins prenatally, and has gone to Whale Branch schools since, including a stint with his mom as his teacher at the middle school.
“A lot of the times we see students who’ve transferred from Beaufort or Lady’s Island do early college,” she said. “I want them to know it’s possible for Whale Branch cluster students to apply and complete.”
Jaylen said he’s thankful to his Whale Branch coaches and teachers, namely Matthew Platinga, Brad Taracuk, Feronica Hamilton-Pierce, Casser Middleton, Jerry Hatcher and Shedrick Sanders.
And he still intends to walk on to South Carolina State’s football team. “I think I can make the team for sure,” he said, smiling.