The
high-achieving high schoolers have each been accepted to all eight Ivy League
schools: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth
College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University
and Yale University.
And
as well as the Ivy League colleges, each of them has also been accepted to
other top schools.
While
they all grew up in different cities, the students are the offspring of
immigrant parents who moved to America – from Bulgaria, Somalia or Nigeria.
And
all four – Munira Khalif from Minnesota, Stefan Stoykov from
Indiana, Victor Agbafe from North Carolina, and Harold Ekeh from New
York – say they have their parents’ hard work to thank.
- Munira Khalif from Minnesota, Stefan Stoykov from Indiana, Victor Agbafe from North Carolina, and Harold Ekeh from New York got multiple offers
- All have immigrant parents – from Somalia, Bulgaria or Nigeria – and say they have their parents’ hard work to thank for their successes
- They hope to use the opportunities for good, from improving education across the world to becoming neurosurgeons
Now
they hope to use the opportunities for good – whether its effecting positive
social change, improving education across the world or becoming a neurosurgeon.
The
teens have one more thing in common: they don’t know which school they’re going
to pick yet.
The daughter of Somali immigrants who
has already received a U.N. award and wants to improve education across the
world
Star
pupil: Munira Khalif, from St. Paul, Minnesota, says she has always been
driven by the thought that her parents, who left Somalia during the civil war,
fled to the U.S. so she would have better opportunities
Munira
Khalif, who attends Mounds Park Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, was shocked
when she was accepted by eight Ivy Schools and three others – but her teachers
were not.
‘She
is composed and she is just articulate all the time,’ Randy Comfort, an upper
school director at the private school, told KMSP. ‘She’s pretty remarkable.’
The
18-year-old student, whose parents both fled Somali during the civil war, she
said she was inspired to work hard because of the opportunities her family and
the U.S. had given her.
‘The
thing is, when you come here as an immigrant, you’re hoping to have
opportunities not only for yourself, but for your kids,’ she told the channel.
‘And that’s always been at the back of my mind.’
As
well as achieving top grades, Khalif has immersed herself in other activities
both in and out of school – particularly those aimed at doing good.
She
was one of nine youngsters in the world to receive the UN Special Envoy for
Global Education’s Youth Courage Award for her education activism, which she
started when she was just 13.
High
achiever: She was one of nine youngsters in the world to receive the UN
Special Envoy for Global Education’s Youth Courage Award for her education
activism, which she started when she was just 13
She
launched a non-profit group, Lighting the Way, to make education more
accessible for East African youth, especially girls, through scholarships,
libraries and improving sanitation issues.
And
she was also appointed as A World at School Global Youth Ambassador to promote
universal education.
Khalif,
who plans to study political science at college, said she has yet to decide
where to go and plans to visit a few more campuses before she makes her final
decision.
As
well as the Ivy League schools, she also received offers from Stanford,
Georgetown and the University of Minnesota – and she’s still letting the
realization sink in.
‘I
was very surprised,’ she said. ‘I am humbled to even have the opportunity to
choose amongst these schools because they are all incredible places to learn
and grow.’
The Bulgarian housekeeper’s son who
couldn’t speak English a decade before he was accepted to 18 top schools in the
U.S.
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