NCCU enrolls teen law student

For 16-year-old Ty Hobson-Powell, Air Jordan tennis shoes symbolize excellence, and that’s why he always wears them.

“In basketball, the players that were at the top of their game represented the brand by playing in the sneakers,” said Hobson-Powell, a native of Washington, D.C.

“Although my pursuits are purely academic, I feel like I’m at the top of my game currently, and it’s only right that I continue in the spirit of excellence and represent the Jordan brand.”

Hobson-Powell is at the top of his academic game. Enrolled as a first-year law student at N.C. Central University, he is the youngest student among his peers. But that hasn’t slowed him down.

“I have interest in medicine as well,” he said. “I might pursue it after this. I just want to be in a helping profession in whatever I do.”

Hobson-Powell’s work-ethic is a character trait that developed at an early age. While medical school has been a recent dream of his, he says he knew early in life that he wanted to pursue law.

“I was like three or four,” he said. “I thought I wanted to be the attorney general.”

At 3 years old, an age when most children are speaking in simple sentences, Hobson-Powell was learning how to read, write and speak Mandarin.

“I was enrolled in an immersion school at three,” he said. At age 13, Hobson-Powell decided to enroll at Howard University, where his father, Edwin Powell, is an assistant professor in the medical school.

He later transferred to the University of Baltimore, where he graduated at age 15.

“I would say it was a learning experience, being on my own for the first time and kind of learning how to fend for myself,” he says about moving into a single-room dormitory.

“I had to adjust to the cafeteria instead of my mom’s cooking.”

Despite their son’s academic motivation, Hobson-Powell’s parents encouraged him to make the most of his time.

“My parents were proud that I was in the position to make a decision like that,” Hobson-Powell says about enrolling in college.

“But my parents actually advised that I slow down.”

“It took some thought before I realized I wanted to move forward,” he says. “After I got in, they just embraced it.”

His father said both he and Hobson-Powell’s mother set guidelines for their teenage son while he was in undergraduate school.

“We gave him requirements,” Powell said. “We told him, ‘You must be in your dorm room by 9 o’clock.’”

Horton Luima, a junior business major at NCCU, says hanging out with Hobson-Powell is no different than hanging out with an average college student.

“It was surprising because I didn’t think he was 16,” he said. “He’s very mature, very well-rounded, very well-spoken.”

While Hobson-Powell is expected to graduate from law school in 2014, he says he’s not in any hurry.

“I’m just taking it day by day,” he said.

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