By BOTWC Staff
Sarah Olufemi-Dada is a senior from Cypress, Texas whose future is already shaping up to be extremely bright, KHOU 11 news reports. Excelling academically in high school, Olufemi-Dada took on the additional responsibility of dual-enrollment at LoneStar College CyFair through a program called College Academy.
“Students really gain benefit from being able to have this nurturing support of college while still in this high school environment before they go off truly on their own,” explained LSC-CyFair president Dr. Valerie Jones.
Seeing a boost in dual-enrollment in recent years, Olufemi-Dada became one of hundreds of high school students who did well in the program, graduating just last week with an associate’s degree in science. Timing couldn’t have been more perfect either as the senior also prepares for her high school graduation this coming week. And as if her two degree flex wasn’t enough, Olufemi-Dada also just learned that she received a full ride scholarship to Stanford University.
“I was screaming and I read Stanford. I was like, no way, this is my first choice,” the teen recalled.
Olufemi-Dada said it’s been a dream to see all of her hard work pay off. During her time in school, she really worked hard to balance everything. While she had to cut back on some of her extracurricular activities to make room for dual enrollment and the multiple jobs she works to support her family, the senior says she feels really good to have made it through.
“I wanted to be great and though I couldn’t be great in my instrument or my sport, I knew at least with academics, I could do something,” she said.
Olufemi-Dada graduated from LSC-CyFair alongside 3,000 other students, 500 of them fellow high school scholars who are members of the College Academy. Dr. Jones said the program is not only bolstering their college resumes, it’s saving them money in the long run by eliminating some of that financial burden of extra college classes.
The teen said she hopes others like her look at her story and are inspired, knowing that if they work hard, they can achieve whatever they desire. She credits her family, specifically her siblings, as her motivation and plans to attend Stanford as a computer science and biocomputational engineering major. It is Olufemi-Dada’s goal to work in medicine.
“There are spots where, you know, people like me who put in the effort or wanted to aim towards these schools but never thought they could pay for them…I kind of just stop and think sometimes like I really did it. Oh my goodness.” she said.
Congratulations Sarah!
Cover photo: Texas teen earns full ride to Stanford and is graduating with high school and college degree/Photo Courtesy of KHOU 11 news
