Teen who walked 6 miles to graduation receives college scholarship on the spot

Six-year-old boy in wheelchair surprises his family by walking at his graduation

The young boy was diagnosed with Noonan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that impacts mobility and development, at just 2 months old. He usually needs a wheelchair or walker to get around, but he shocked and thrilled his parents by standing up to receive his kindergarten diploma.

'Carry That Weight' was a college performance piece that went viral

Columbia University undergrad Emma Sulkowicz became an overnight sensation with their senior thesis performance art piece "Carry That Weight." Emma developed the piece after reporting having been sexually assaulted by another Columbia student to the school, which declined to find that student responsible. In "Carry That Weight," Emma carried her mattress everywhere with her for the entirety of her senior year, calling it an “endurance performance art piece.”

Bizarre college donations and the strings attached

When donors give to a college, they regularly prescribe specific stipulations, typically to fund a professorship in their name in a certain subject. But some of those stipulations are unique, including requiring annual graveside flowers, pet adoption for 150 dogs, or the consistent teaching of Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged."

After Title IX, the University of Chicago advertised a women's academic-athletic scholarship

There were athletic scholarships for women before Title IX, but the University of Chicago’s Gertrude Dudley Scholarship might’ve been the first to advertise itself as such, taking out an ad in a 1973 issue of Parade magazine. The school received over 1,000 applications.

A letter about a hurricane helped launch Hamilton's life in America

After a hurricane severely damaged the Caribbean island of St. Croix, Alexander Hamilton wrote a vivid letter that was later published and impressed local business leaders, who took up a collection to send the teenager to North America for schooling.

Teen climber survives a 500-foot fall on Mount Hood

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said rescue teams are working to reach the teen, who sustained a leg injury in the fall. He is at an elevation of about 10,500 feet.

One '$64,000 Question' winner went from police officer to Shakespearean scholar overnight

Redmond O’Hanlon was a police officer living on Staten Island, New York, when he competed on “The $64,000 Question.” His knowledge of Shakespeare earned him $16,000, which was four times his annual salary. After appearing on the show, he became a minor celebrity, and created a Shakespeare-themed set of playing cards and established the O'Hanlon Shakespeare Service, a consultancy on the Bard, all while continuing to work for the NYPD.

67 US high school athletes died from exertional heatstroke between 1982 and 2022

Many of those deaths were from football specifically, where student athletes play in hot conditions while wearing heavy protective gear. Few states mandate heat guidelines for school athletes, and this article says that's of increasing concern with more high heat index days.

Hip-hop legends the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and DMX all attended the same New York high school

All four emcees attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, a vocational public school in downtown Brooklyn. Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes were well-known as rappers when they were in school, once even battle-rapping one another in the lunchroom. (Jay-Z won.)

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

The incredible story of Bishop Sycamore

Bishop Sycamore is facing scrutiny after its ugly loss in a nationally televised football game, but this is not new to many of the people involved.

1978: Thurgood Marshall, commencement address at the University of Virginia

"Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on."

Buford the Pyrenees showered with gifts after rescuing 2-year-old boy lost in the desert

The young boy wandered away from his family home and ended up spending the night alone in the Arizona wilderness. A search party of more than 40 people and a helicopter participated in looking for the boy. A dog named Buford eventually found the child and led him back to a ranch, allowing him to soon be reunited with his family. Once the story broke, Buford started receiving an influx of toys and treats from strangers.

Play the role of a student as you try to navigate college and remain debt-free

Baz Luhrmann's 'Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)' is based on a fake graduation speech

The 1997 song, which was a chart-topping hit in Australia and appeared on the Billboard "Hot 100" in the US, is based on a fake commencement speech written by Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich. For a time, many people erroneously believed Kurt Vonnegut gave the speech at MIT's graduation ceremony.

A Cinderella run to the elite eight put Steph Curry on the map

As a sophomore at 10-seed Davidson, Curry averaged 32 points per game, scoring 40, 30, 33, and 25 in four games, before falling to eventual champion Kansas by two points.

The best predictor of success.

Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit."

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

A 14-year-old "human calculator" shatters six mathematical world records in one day

A teenage prodigy from Maharashtra, India named Aaryan Shukla set the record for the fastest time to mentally add 50 five-digit numbers. He did so in just 25.19 seconds–roughly equivalent to one addition every 0.5 seconds. The math whiz said he practices calculations for around five to six hours a day.

15 states offer school voucher programs, serving nearly 350,000 students

Voucher programs direct public K–12 funding to families in the form of tuition grants for private schools and are typically targeted to low-income or special-needs students.

Greta Thunberg addressed Davos at 16 years old

In 2019, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg took the Davos stage to sharply criticize global leaders for failing to act on climate change, warning that incremental promises were meaningless without immediate, systemic action.

Read Truth's account of escaping slavery in 1826

After her enslaver broke his promise to free her, Truth left before dawn, carrying her infant daughter and a bundle of clothes. She later found refuge with the Van Wagener family, who paid her master $20 for her freedom and $5 for her infant daughter.

Langston Hughes solicited ghost stories from his readers

Hughes had a column in the Chicago Defender newspaper for two decades. In 1951, he asked readers to send him their ghost stories, promising that he'd reward them with autographed copies of his books. He spent the next several months dedicating the column to the stories he received.

Camus credited a teacher with his success

After winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 1957, Camus wrote a letter to Louis Germain, his former teacher, thanking the man for "the affectionate hand" he extended to Camus as a student. In the short note, he'd go on to write, "without your teaching and example, none of all this would have happened."

Inside entrepreneur Bryan Johnson's race to live forever

Created by entrepreneur Bryan Johnson in 2022, the Rejuvenation Olympics asks participants to find ways, including exercise and dietary supplements, to slow their biological aging. But some of these tactics are extreme in cost or nature—such as Johnson's regular injections of blood from his teenage son.

Watch Bill Nye be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Joe Biden bestowed the honor for Nye's work in science education, science advocacy and environmental stewardship, with the White House adding, "By sharing the magic of fun and science, he inspires generations of Americans to follow facts and reason and leave the world better than we found it."

Austen left formal school at 9

Jane Austen was the seventh of eight children. At 9, her father, a clergyman in the Church of England, removed her and her sister from the Abbey School in Reading because he could not afford the tuition. Jane continued her education at home, where the family read aloud and performed plays.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

Poison ivy will likely become both larger and more resilient due to climate change.