An Education

suffer abuse, mental health issues and their own problems with substance abuse.

But that is not the story for the Robinsons.

Kenneth Robinson is a finalist for the Gates Millennium Scholarship. If he wins that coveted scholarship, an academic full ride, he plans to attend Texas A&M University. If not, it’s no big loss. He has so many scholarships to Prairie View A&M University that he would be paid about $10,000 a year to attend. Either way, his ultimate goal is the same: to earn a degree in nuclear physics and join the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer.

“I want to be a general,” he says.

Kenneth rose quickly through the ranks of Kimball’s ROTC program and last year became battalion commander, even though other students tried to hold him back. He’s put in 200 hours of community service with ROTC and he says “no” is fuel to his fire.

“I got sick of people telling me what I couldn’t do,” he says.

The Robinson brothers have a very supportive family, especially in their dad, Kenneth Robinson Sr., and his girlfriend, Archie Marshall. Their dad takes them hunting in the winter and canoeing in summer. Every Tuesday is “BNO,” boys night out with dad and buddies who are like uncles to the boys.

Kenneth Robinson Sr. is extremely proud of his sons, but they earn so many accolades that it’s almost hard to keep up, he says.

“They’ve always been good students and good kids,” he says.

The younger Kenneth is hard on the members of his ROTC battalion; he expects them to work as hard as he does.

He’s working on his valedictorian speech, and that’s likely to be the gist of it.

“I don’t take anybody’s excuses,” he says. “There’s always a way for you to rise back up to the top.”