A 10-year-old girl has received a full-ride scholarship to South Carolina State University, the HBCU announced recently. The news came as a surprise as Kendall Rae Johnson toured the university’s facilities. She had previously become the youngest USDA-certified farmer in Georgia at just 6 years old.

Johnson was visiting South Carolina State’s Research and Demonstration Farm when she received a scholarship offer from the university’s president, Alexander Conyers.

She was surprised with a full-ride scholarship during a university tour

“We were genuinely inspired by Kendall Rae’s focus and maturity,” he said, according to a news story on the school’s website. “It’s not every day you meet a 10-year-old who talks about microorganisms, crop counts and longhorn cattle. She’s remarkable.”

The 1890 Agriculture Innovation Scholarship covers tuition, fees, as well as room and board at the university. It is valued at $83,500.

Johnson noted how young she is but said she looks forward to seeing how the campus develops by the time she may be considering going to college. South Carolina State reportedly invested $250 million in its campus and satellite locations.

“I heard you’ve got a lot of building going on,” she said. “I want to come back and see what it looks like in 10 years.”

“Kendall Rae is driven, focused and passionate about making a difference,” Conyers added. “She represents the type of leader South Carolina State is proud to invest in — and we’ll be ready when she is.”

She became the youngest certified farmer in Georgia at just 6 years old

Johnson started gardening with her great-grandmother when she was 3 years old. She now farms on land that was passed down to her mother. There, she grows fruits and vegetables such as peaches, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, Granny Smith apples, beets, carrots, tomatoes and okra.

“I like helping the community out with fresh fruits and vegetables,” the girl said. “I also like to travel and learn different farming techniques and how other people do it.”

The 10-year-old has received support from her parents in pursuing her passion for farming. She was homeschooled by her father.

“The last generation of farmers we had was maybe two generations ago — maybe my great-great-grandmother,” her father, Quentin Johnson, said. “We just said we’d support any idea our child had when we saw real active focus. She zeroed in on plants and wanting to grow things, so we just stuck behind it and when we realized she wasn’t veering off into any other thing, we just kept building it up.”

“She kind of pulled me into the whole thing,” he added. “As exciting as it was for her, it was for me.”