Nationwide — Nicholas Watson from Texarkana, Arkansas, was diagnosed with autism and ADHD, but recently graduated from high school with a record-breaking GPA. He has proven wrong all the people that said and assumed that he would not even be able to read and comprehend math.“Overall, I’m just grateful to have an opportunity to be where I am right now because I wasn’t ever meant to be here,” Watson told ArkLaTex. “Besides autism and ADHD, they said I wasn’t ever going to comprehend, read, math all of that. No matter what circumstance or whoever defines you. You’re the one who defines yourself.”
Watson’s 4.8 GPA when he graduated high school is the highest ever in his school’s history. What’s more, he was accepted to 45 different colleges and universities and was awarded more than $1.5 million in scholarship offers.
Aside from his academic success, he also has outstanding skills in a number of sports such as soccer, cross country, track, and basketball.
In fact, Watson chose to attend college at Harding University on a basketball scholarship, where he will coach youth basketball. He will start his studies with 64 college credits majoring in Electric Engineering. He said he wants to someday make electronic devices and go to Google and Tesla.
Watson’s mother is proud of his achievements despite the challenges he faced. She said, “I don’t even know if I would say [there were] obstacles because whatever you ask of him, he just did it.”
Moreover, Watson hopes he could inspire others with his story.
“No matter what limitations or restrictions that you have been giving, conditions or anything that tries to hinder you just try to overachieve that and go to a goal that you want to achieve.”