Getting just one scholarship isn’t an easy ride to the park of course, landing more than 10, totaling 19 full-ride scholarship offers from the most prestigious universities across the United States and Canada, now that’s super super amazing indeed!
Joining list of Nigerians waving the country’s flag high is teen wonder Victory Yinka-Banjo, a 17-year-old who just graduated high school has been offered more than $5 million dollars’ worth of scholarship money for an undergraduate program of study.
Talk about living true to one’s name!
Victory was given potential full scholarships from the Ivy League schools, Yale College, Princeton University, Harvard College, and Brown University, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia, CNN reports.
“It still feels pretty unbelievable. I applied to so many schools because I didn’t even think any school would accept me,” Victory told CNN, on attaining the academic feat.
The multiple scholarship offers “have made me stand taller, smile wider, and pat myself on the back more often.” She states.
Not luck;
Victory, a straight-A student was born to Nigerian parents, Chika Yinka-Banjo, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos, and Adeyinka Banjo, a private sector procurement and supply chain executive.
Late last year, she received widespread national attention after she scored all A’s in her West African Senior School Certification Exam (WASSCE). Yinka-Banjo has also been rated as “Top In The World” in her English as a Second Language (ESL) speaking endorsement as reported by the University of Cambridge International Examination.
“Their admissions processes are extremely selective,” Victory added. “They only accept the best of the best. So, you can imagine how, on a daily basis, I have to remind myself that I actually got into these schools. It is surreal!”
According to Victory, it’s hard work, faith, parental guidance and discipline paying off big!
“They have made me truly feel proud about the hard work I have put into several areas of my life over the years. I am slowly beginning to realize that I deserve them,” she said.
According to her the multiple scholarship offers “have made me stand taller, smile wider, and pat myself on the back more often.”
So many options!
Victory who hopes to study Computational Biology is still weighing up her options amongst so many prestigious schools.
“I am still doing research on some schools that are at the top of my list, like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and just trying to compare and contrast all of them thoroughly,” she told CNN.
Victory’s mother, Chika, says her daughter’s story could inspire other young Nigerians to know they can.
“It is noteworthy that she is not one of the Nigerian-Americans who often get into these schools because of their advantage of being born and bred in the US. She completed her secondary school here [in Nigeria]. It would be great if her story can be used to inspire the youths of our country,” she told CNN.
Victory Yinka Banjo currently spends some of her free time tutoring other university admission seekers — through the radio — on key subjects such as math, English language, biology, chemistry and physics, the site reports.
