HomeEducation17-year-old girl scores highest grades at US school, wins multiple scholarships

17-year-old girl scores highest grades at US school, wins multiple scholarships

An outstanding 17-year-old girl broke the 152-year-old record of Albany High School, New York to become her first black valedictorian.

Onovu Otitigbe-Dangerfield graduated with an impressive 4.0 GPA, beating all her colleagues and clinching the prestigious award.

She said, “It’s overwhelming and really surreal to me, especially hearing from Black girls from other schools that it inspired and motivated them. They reached out to me saying, ‘it was so nice to see one of us in there.”

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Onovu shared that she felt honored, not just for breaking the record but for representing the black community properly.

While at Albany High, Onovu ensured that she left a legacy as she served as the president of several school clubs, co-captain of the soccer team, and co-editor-in-chief of the digital school newspaper.

Valedictorian Onovu Otitigbe-Dangerfield at robotics class

Among other subjects, Onovu made it clear that she enjoyed robotics the most among her engineering classes.

She mentioned that robotics and computer science would contribute immensely to her pre-engineering diploma.

Onovu’s mother, Jessica expressed her happiness for her daughter’s success and shared that she too went to Albany High. She said, “We’re just proud. We’re in college decision mode.”

Onovu applied to more than 20 colleges and was accepted into Harvard, Yale, Brown Columbia, and Stanford amongst others.

She expressed how happy she was to become the first-ever black valedictorian and hoped she wasn’t the last.

READ ALSO: Nigerian lady bags bachelor’s degree in English with first-class, wins best graduating student

18-year-old mom emerges valedictorian, wins $600k in scholarships

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old mom, Trameka Pope proved that with determination we can achieve anything. She emerged valedictorian in her high school with scholarships despite all odds.

In addition to the prestigious award, Trameka was awarded $600k in scholarships to 25 universities in the United States.

Trameka, who now holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health shared her struggles of being homeless and a mom and how she motivated herself to attain the feat.