NEW YORK — High school senior Harold Ekeh
didn’t just get into one Ivy League university.
He was accepted into all eight.
Now comes the really hard part: Deciding
where to go. He actually got into all 13
schools he applied to, including MIT and
Johns Hopkins.
“I am leaning toward Yale,” he told
CNNMoney. “I competed at Yale for Model
UN, and I like the passion people at Yale
had.”
Some of the Yale students he met became
his friends and mentors, offering advice on
the college application process. Now Ekeh is
trying to do the same thing.
Ekeh, 17, founded a college mentoring
program at his school, Elmont Memorial High
School on Long Island in the New York city
suburbs. His goal is to get more students
into top universities.
American dream: Ekeh was born in Nigeria
and came to the United States when he was
eight. He wrote his main college essay about
the struggle to adjust, including being
clueless in U.S. history classes at school. He
said he would ask his parents repeatedly why
they moved.
“We had a fairly comfortable life in Nigeria,
but they told me we moved to America for
the opportunities like the educational
opportunities,” he recalled.
The salutatorian is quick to credit his
parents, school and community for his
success.
“I am very humbled by this,” Ekeh said. “It’s
not just for me, but for my school and
community. We can accomplish great things
here.”
A passion for science: He wants to major in
neurobiology or chemistry in college and later
become doctor and, ultimately, a
neurosurgeon. He was named a 2015 Intel
Science Talent Search semifinalist earlier this
year for his research on how the acid DHA
can slow Alzheimer’s.
For Ekeh, the cause is personal. His
grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
when he was 11. One of his proudest
moments was running home to tell his
mother and aunts about the breakthroughs
he was finding with DHA.
“When other kids would say, ‘I want to be a
superhero or police officer,’ I would say, ‘I
want to know what is on the inside of us,'”
he said.
The key to success: Outside of the lab, Ekeh
directs a youth choir at his church, plays the
drums, is part of Key Club and Model UN and
was elected to the Homecoming court. He
speaks Ibo and Spanish and has a 100.5
percent GPA. He’s proud of acing the AP
History Exam despite his early struggles with
the subject.
Elmont High School is 99 percent minority.
Ekeh is the second student in recent years to
win a prestigious Intel Science award.
Principal John Capozzi calls Ekeh “one of the
most humble young men I’ve ever hadn’t the
opportunity to meet.” The lab where Ekeh did
his award-winning research is modest and
only staffed part-time by a passionate
chemistry teacher, but the community makes
the most of what it has.
Ekeh will spend the coming weeks visiting all
the schools before making his final decision.
His advice to other high school students is
simple: “Like my parents always told us, the
secret to success is unbridled resolve.”


source:
money.cnn.com/2015/04/04/pf/college/immigrant-accepted-all-ivy-league-schools-harold-ekeh/