Ray Grissom's smile lights up the room the minute he walks in. He's happy-and he should be. On Nov. 30, the Campbell High School senior found out he had won a scholarship for full tuition and living expenses at Yale University.

The scholarship, a $191,200 value over four years, comes from QuestBridge, which matches "bright, motivated, low-income students" with top universities. Grissom was one of 204 students across the world to nab a full ride this year. Eighteen other QuestBridge students are also headed to Yale next fall. The nonprofit group is based in Palo Alto, Calif.

Yale offers a unique mix of a creative and intellectual environment, Grissom said, which is why he wanted to go there. He likes challenges, likes taking risks, and is looking forward to this one. He was overjoyed when he found out the news, he said.

"My mom cried and tackled me," he said. When he got the phone call telling him he was in, Grissom said he was in such shock he couldn't respond. He closed his door, sat in his room, and clapped his hands.

"I'm ecstatic, that's my baby," his mother, Maria Grissom, a hairdresser at Glitter Salon in Fayetteville, said. "I knew he could do it though."

The 17-year-old will be the first in his family to attend college. He lives in Austell with his mother, his mom's older sister, Felicia Grissom, and 14-year-old brother Michael, a student at Garrett Middle School. His father has never been in the picture, Ms. Grissom said. Her son has kept a 4.596 grade-point average in the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program at Campbell. He couldn't be more thrilled with where he is, but he did not always picture this life.

"Freshman and sophomore year-if I had to say where I thought I would be, it wasn't very positive," he said. "Some of the choices I made, the people I hung out with, it wouldn't lead you anywhere positive."

That all changed after a teacher made a comment in class.

"They told me I needed to be more responsible, I had a lot going for me," he said. "It was embarrassing. I smiled it off. But I went home and took it to heart."

Sophomore year was his breaking point, he said. He thought about dropping out of the IB program. The homework was daunting. He was working at Chik-Fil-A to help his mother, a hairdresser at Glitter Salon in Fayetteville, pay the bills. Still, he knew the time he spent on his studies would be worthwhile.

Grissom's teachers, whom he credits with motivating and challenging him, say his success is his own doing.

Melyn Roberson has taught Grissom Spanish throughout his high school years. Other teachers have encouraged him, Grissom said, but Ms. Roberson made him feel intelligent.

Ms. Roberson laughs when she hears that. "I think he gives me so much more credit than I deserve. I just saw a spark-you see it in somebody's eyes, the way they participate," she said.

"He gives as much to me as I gave to him."

And it's not just in the classroom that he inspires her. Last spring, Grissom was among students that donated their own money to replace Ms. Roberson's iPod after thieves broke into her car.

"I hope I inspire him, but I think he came with that," she said.

"He is one of a kind."

He's a hard worker, she said, and he is intelligent, but he remains a young man. And that's refreshing, she said. She has watched him grow to value academics. But he has not become too serious, she said, and that's good.

A social life is important, Grissom said. He likes to go to football games and play rugby, although he plans to replace rugby with crew once he lands in New Haven, Conn. This year he's had more time to enjoy high school since he quit his job.

"Those were the tougher years," he said of his sophomore and junior years. "But it's all worked out somehow."

Grissom isn't sure what his future holds. Art and design are passions, and he is planning to major in architecture. But he's 17, and knows that could change.

Whatever he does, he hopes it will be positive. Grissom doesn't have an answer to the eternal question of where he will be in the future, but there's one thing he's sure of.

It will be "where I have achieved something totally unexpected," he said, smiling.

efarnsworth@mdjonline.com

By Elizabeth Farnsworth

Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

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