6-year-old drumming prodigy earns college scholarship

Meet the talented 6-year-old drummer already getting university attention.

GREENSBURG, La. (WTHR) — A real-life little drummer boy is making a big sound in his Louisiana community.

At just 6 years old, Jeremiah Travis is already a drumming sensation, playing on the drumline with high school students.

Jeremiah's big talent is already giving him a good head start to his future.

Jeremiah's mother, Nicole Jackson, said drumming was her son's calling from early on.

"I just like to beat," Jeremiah said.

"He probably was beating in the womb," Jackson said. "He was very active in the womb. And he just always tapped on anything he can beat on."

In 2017, high school band director Chesteron Frye saw Jeremiah sitting in the bleachers, beating along with his toy drumsticks.

"I was like, 'Whoa, we gotta get him in the band,'" Frye said. The students brought Jeremiah over and held out a drum for him, and Frye was immediately impressed. He asked Jeremiah to join the team.

Jeremiah is now in Kindergarten and plays alongside the band, with drummers triple his size. A video of Jeremiah playing with the big kids last year went viral, and Frye got a call from the president at Alcorn State University. He called to offer Jeremiah a scholarship before everyone else caught wind of his talent.

"I was just amazed and shocked," Jackson said. "We were very excited to receive it."

But Jeremiah won't have to wait for college to get big opportunities. Just last week, he and his bandmates got to play in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.

"He don't give up," Jackson said. "That makes us very proud that he's so little and he won't give up."