15-Year-Old Edison, N.J., Girl Is Ivy-Bound

Updated: Thursday, 05 May 2011, 8:26 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 04 May 2011, 11:44 PM EDT

By HEATHER BROWN

MYFOXNY.COM - Saheela Ibraheem, of Edison, N.J., is every college's dream. She plays soccer, softball, the trombone. She scored an almost perfect SAT. And she's a nice, humble, normal girl.

"I want to study neuroscience, neurobiology," Saheela said. "It comes down to the support I've had at home, from my parents and brother, every step of the way.

Saheela applied to 14 colleges. She got into Harvard, M.I.T., Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Stanford, Williams, Washington University, Brown, Cornell, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina, and Cal Tech. The only rejection was from Yale. No one is quite sure why.

"I don't know!" she said.

But what might be most amazing about Saheela -- she is 15.

"Most of the time, they say I'm mature for my age," Saheela said. "I guess that Age isn't everything."

Her mom knew Saheela was something special at an early age.

"When you teach her 1, 2, 3 but she want more," said Shakirat Ibraheem, the proud mother. "When you teach her 1 through 5, she'd say how about this."

Saheela skipped the sixth and ninth grades. By high school, she'd switched from public to private. Her Edison school feels lucky to have her.

"She has it all. She's the whole package," said Susan Swenson of the Wardlaw-Hartridge School. "She really is."

"I want to move with her. I want to go with her," Shakirat Ibraheem said.

For sure, she'll miss high school -- the friends, the sports, the prom.

"It's pretty much one of our last chances to be together as a class," she said. "I can't wait."

But it just takes a few seconds of meeting Saheela Ibraheem to know that is probably not the last time we'll hear her name.

"It's your life and it's important that you take advantage of it," Saheela said. "If it means going to college younger, that's just the way life is for you."

In case you're wondering: she decided to go to Harvard.



http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/15-year-old-edison-nj-girl-is-ivy-bound-20110504

Thank God. She was not involve in drugs or prost.tution.

I hope they won't killed this one?
Go girl!

Wow. I'm really impressed by her. Very intelligent, and very mature.

I'm sure she will accomplish big things in life. Congratulations, Saheela!

Congrats baby. Hope others with kidnapping genes learn from her and change

Wow ! Real nice. She'd probably have graduated and would be ready to serve in the NYSC during the 2015 elections. I heard the family is from Osun state so she has 13.7% chance of serving in Bauchi state.

edoyad:

Wow ! Real nice. She'd probably have graduated and would be ready to serve in the NYSC during the 2015 elections. I heard the family is from Osun state so she has 13.7% chance of serving in Bauchi state.

NO NYSC for her.

Osun State: State Of The Living Spring

Osun a gbe wa ooooooooooo

On behalf of the great Yoruba race and Yoruba intellingtsia, NJ branch, I wish her luck in her endeavor.

You may or may not believe it, God is with her wherever she may be

May God in His infinite mercy and wisdom
Crown you with all the desires that you seek
May you be greater than we

Walk and stumble not.

Long live Yoruba Nation

We lead, Ibos follow.

^ You beat me to it. I thot they were hausa at first then I did some backtracking. Seems they are from osun- where is fstranger to sing praises about Osun people?

Also her father has a PhD too though so it makes sense why his daughter would be high achieving. The girl is smart sha, doff my hat to her, see how everyone is trying to claim her, black, African, nigerian, yoruba, muslims, female- all factions.

Good she plans to be a scientist not crap like medicine that most Nigerian-American parents push their kids to study.

And I got beaten a second time. Fstranger is here already

On behalf of the great Yoruba race and Yoruba intellingtsia, NJ branch, I wish her luck in her endeavor.

, personally I think there are too many Nigerians in New Jersey and Maryland tbh. You guys should spread around to Kansas and Montana at least

Rhino.5dm:

Thank God. She was not involve in drugs or prost.tution.

[size=18pt]I hope they won't kill this one? [/size]
Go girl!

So sad that we have to worry about this, successful Yorubas are being killed at every whim.
In American, we're not safe. In Nigeria, the North kills us. In the East, they kidnap us for ransom. Na wetin? Is it a crime to be Yoruba again?

Anywaz, me, I dont want to die oh. At 44, life is just beginning.  

Wow her father even has patents online. Well maybe brilliance is hereditary. Still not convinced though.

Ileke-IdI:

So sad that we have to worry about this, successful Yorubas are being killed at every whim.
In American, we're not safe. In Nigeria, the North kills us. In the East, they kidnap us for ransom. Na wetin? Is it a crime to be Yoruba again?

Anywaz, me, I dont want to die oh. At 44, life is just beginning.  

I agree, come back to bed and take kondo. It would make you feel better. Kondo makes teh world go round.

SEFAGO:

Wow her father even has patents online. Well maybe brilliance is hereditary. Still not convinced though.

I agree, come back to bed and take kondo. It would make you feel better. Kondo makes the world go round.

Who are you talking to? Because you're not talking to me.

Sorry, I dont smoke cigarettes. 

I wonder what the odds of her ever returning (or going for the first time, possibly?) to Nigeria is, though.

Hrm. Really sucks to lose talent like her to America.

She is needed in Yorubaland

And regarding intelligence being hereditary, it makes sense that it would be. Pretty much everything else is, right?

ekt_bear:

I wonder what the odds of her ever returning (or going for the first time, possibly?) to Nigeria is, though.

Hrm. Really sucks to lose talent like her to America.

She is needed in Yorubaland

The brain drain is worse than you think and is truly quite disturbing. I was just thinking about it yesterday. A large number of students straight from Nigeria (usually the cream of the crop like the best student/s in WAEC definitely the top 10-100 out of the 1 million students jet out to the US courtesy of scholarships). Most have plans of coming back when the leave but I think as they grow older reality hits them.

And regarding intelligence being hereditary, it makes sense that it would be. Pretty much everything else is, right?

Nah definitely not everything. I think environment plays a dominant role in this though close to 80% IMO. The girl had educated parents, lived probably in some comfortable middle-class area in NJ. Had 3-square meals everyday. Was surrounded by equally achieving students. Parents gave her some guidance from experience. Probably had a high-school counselor who was familiar with Ivy admissions.

If you had not scared ZnO away, he might have provided some answers for us based on his experience. he seemed to know quite a bit about genetics.

Ileke-IdI:

Who are you talking to? Because you're not talking to me.

Sorry, I dont smoke cigarettes. 

But you liked the Kondo last nite- why u dey shakara nau?

SEFAGO, just shut up jare.

SEFAGO:

The brain drain is worse than you think and is truly quite disturbing. I was just thinking about it yesterday. A large number of students straight from Nigeria (usually the cream of the crop like the best student/s in WAEC definitely the top 10-100 out of the 1 million students jet out to the US courtesy of scholarships). Most have plans of coming back when the leave but I think as they grow older reality hits them.
Nah definitely not everything. I think environment plays a dominant role in this though close to 80% IMO. The girl had educated parents, lived probably in some comfortable middle-class area in NJ. Had 3-square meals everyday. Was surrounded by equally achieving students. Parents gave her some guidance from experience. Probably had a high-school counselor who was familiar with Ivy admissions.

If you had not scared ZnO away, he might have provided some answers for us based on his experience. he seemed to know quite a bit about genetics.

What do you expect?

Without education reform and updated resources, no one would want to train in Nigeria. Another problem is that there are no jobs to puts those skills into action aftr education.

New Jersey. Not 'Naija'

Nah definitely not everything. I think environment plays a dominant role in this though close to 80% IMO. The girl had educated parents, lived probably in some comfortable middle-class area in NJ. Had 3-square meals everyday. Was surrounded by equally achieving students. Parents gave her some guidance from experience. Probably had a high-school counselor who was familiar with Ivy admissions.

Nurture alone can get someone to that 99.9 percentile this chick is in?   It cannot be up to 80%. Otherwise those with similar backgrounds (financial status of parents, etc) would achieve results not too dissimilar. Though educational status of parents is kind of evidence for nature rather than nurture, btw.

80% for nurture means that you can get nearly the same results as this chick, but with your average person (or rather, the child of two average people) swapped into her place.

I dunno though, I'm not a geneticist and haven't studied this subject. But not going to try to leave things to nurture, if I can help it.

Kinda stories I wanna start my mornings with. Fuels me kind of.
Go girl! You are poised for greatness

Seems to be mostly nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ

Makes a lot of sense.

She got into Harvard, M.I.T., Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Stanford, Williams, Washington University, Brown, Cornell, University of Chicago, University of North Carolina, and Cal Tech

This will only happen in 1 in 2 million cases, a very high achiever indeed!

Well done!

^^Am declearing a truce. No more bigotry and hateful comments from you
How do read me?

Rhino.5dm:

^^Am declearing a truce. No more bigotry and hateful comments from you
How do read me?

Dont waste your time. EzeUche is not MAN enough to keep his words.
Next week, you'll be back at round one.

I have a dream that one day, Nigerians in USA will dominate the nation in every aspect.

Much as i though. . .then LET'S GO THERE!!

Ileke-IdI:


Dont waste your time. EzeUche is not MAN enough to keep his words.
Next week, you'll be back at round one.

Tribalism is just too prevalent in this forum and thread, anyway congratulations to her and wish her the best for the future.

ekt_bear:

Seems to be mostly nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ

Makes a lot of sense.

Thats why ppl of my IQ are in high demnd all over the world

If she knows what is good for her, let her stay put in US and not even try to return to develop naija in any way cos she wont be valued by this country. Maybe boko haram might want to make use of her cos of her heritage. Pls stay and develop US.

Before you all start claiming her, she wasn't even home bred. She schooled / lived in New Jersey. You see, God has endowed us, but we fail to nurture,

Nurture alone can get someone to that 99.9 percentile this chick is in?  Undecided It cannot be up to 80%. Otherwise those with similar backgrounds (financial status of parents, etc) would achieve results not too dissimilar. Though educational status of parents is kind of evidence for nature rather than nurture, btw.

I differ. Educational Status =/ High Intelligence or even any sort of intelligence. It signifies opportunity especially in the third world. In developed countries like the US where human capital is exploited to the highest, then maybe such a correlation would not seem out of place. Considering the fact that her father and mother grew up in Nigeria, it would be safe to point out that they are a product of opportunity.

I was going to argue more though, but I just noticed that it seems I have been misconstrued (probably my fault). I erroneously equated environment=culture which is really what I wanted to argue. That being immersed in a certain culture drives intelligence and educational achievement. Anyways, my interest lies in how culture can affect perceived intelligence and educational achievement i.e I am not too interested in intelligence differences within groups of the same culture and heritage. More interested in why Yoruba/Igbo/Minorities tend to outperform northerners.

I dunno though, I'm not a geneticist and haven't studied this subject. But not going to try to leave things to nurture, if I can help it.

Lol, hope you are not going to pre-screen your wife using IQ . If you buy big koboko and cane your kids sufficiently and make them work hard they will do fine. That's what both Ileke-Idi and I  plan to do for our kids. Beat the shyt out of them.

efisher:

I have a dream that one day, Nigerians in USA will dominate the nation in every aspect.

Thank God, you know its a dream. Before the collegeboard decide to go politically correct and hide SAT scores broken by racial groups, these were the last figures in 2003:

Above a 1500/1600- (Only 72 black students got this score)- top 0.058% of black students (Top 1% including all test takers)
Above a 1450/1600-(Only 192 black students got this score)- top 0.15% of black students (Top 3-4% including all test takers)
Above a 1300/1600- (only 1877 out of 125,133 get this score)- top 1.5% of black students (top 10% including all test takers)

So this chick is more in the top 0.05% of black students. Probably only 1 of 5-10 students black student who got this score. But not really good considering that over 20,000 have similar qualifications. Moreover, most of these black students are Caribbeans not Nigerians. Caribbeans outperform Africans. Nigerians only outperform Caribbeans in terms of boasting and arrogance.

Whats most impressive is the age at which she was able to attain such results.

Also we have to give credit to who credit is due. This might sound ethnocentric, but she would not have been able to achieve this if not for the good yoruba training and caning her father received back home in Nigeria. Lesson to all of you, cane the shyt out of your kids. And if you oyiibo wife complains- Cane her too 

No disrespect but what is this doing in the politics section

Congrats to the young woman.