For the Second Year in a Row, a Kid From This High School Got Into All 8 Ivy League Colleges

ByElizabeth Licata

 

If you can’t get into Hogwarts, it looks like the next best thing is to go to Elmont Memorial High School in Long Island, NY, because that school is clearly doing something right. A senior from Elmont Memorial High School just got accepted to all eight Ivy League colleges, and this is not even the first time that happened. According to CNN, last year Elmont’s salutatorian was accepted to all eight Ivies, and this year the school’s valedictorian, Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna, just did the same thing. (As an aside: I adore the name Augusta. It has such gravitas! And it certainly fits this particular young woman.)

Uwamanzu-Nna sounds like an amazing person. Obviously she’s smart and has stellar grades and test scores, but the most impressive thing about her is her maturity and thoughtfulness. She’s a teenager in high school, but she is already thinking far beyond herself and shows an awareness of the world that most adults don’t even have. If I had achieved what she had just achieved, I’d be doing a touchdown dance on YouTube, but Uwamanzu-Nna remains poised and mature and publicly thanked her teachers, parents, and community for providing her with support and inspiration.

“My recent accomplishments reflect the hardworking ideals of the town of Elmont, my supportive parents and my dedicated teachers. I am elated, but most importantly, I am thankful,” she said.

What a kid.

Uwamanzu-Nna also got into the four other non-Ivies to which she applied, which I would hazard a guess might include MIT and Stanford. (Once again I must point out that the Ivy League is an athletic conference that happens to have very good schools in it, but it is still a athletic conference, not a title awarded to schools for being the best.)  While she has not yet picked a school, she says she intends to pursue a major in the sciences. CNN reports that “She was a finalist in the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search for her research on cement that could help prevent underwater oil rigs from rupturing. On Monday, she received an invitation to the White House Science Fair.”

She’s also already thinking of using her brains and education to help others and make the world a better place, not just making a fortune in tech and buying herself a private plane with her name on the side of it.

“Though I was born here in America, I visited Nigeria many times,” said Uwamanzu-Nna, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria before she was born. “And I’ve seen that my cousins don’t have the same opportunities that I have. So definitely, whatever I do, I want to make sure that it has an impact on Nigeria.”

Is it too late to make a doll of Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna to be the American Girl Doll of the Year for 2018? Because a lot of young girls would probably be well-served by her example. Uwamanzu-Nna is a very impressive person, and my new personal role model. I’m in my 30s, but I could still use a reminder to work harder and think more about the world around me, and she’s already mastered that.

Pressure’s on, Elmont Memorial High class of 2017.

Similar Posts