One gifted Chicago teen has been excepted to over 25 universities and has been offered over million in scholarship money.
Arianna Alexander has a 5.1 grade point average on a 4.0 scale and graduated as Kenwood Academy’s valedictorian, reports ABC Chicago. Alexander has garnered along the way acceptance letters to 26 universities, including six Ivy League schools, as well as $3 million in scholarship money.
“[At first] it was a lot to take in. I received emails, letters. It was just like, ‘Come here, come here!’ They were bombarding me with all this information,” Alexander told ABC Chicago of the flood of acceptance letters.
Watch a full report on Arianna Alexander below:
Although it was a difficult decision, her teacher, Paul Brush, helped her out when he pointed out that the Wharton School of Business, which is renowned the world over, was at the University of Pennsylvania.
In addition to her great teachers, Alexander credits her success to her father, Pierre Alexander, who had the idea to go for $1 million in scholarships when he saw that another Kenwood student had achieved that amount a few years ago.
“So when the process got started and a million was achieved, let’s go for two. I said let’s go for three and she did it,” the proud father said.
He called the scholarship money a “blessing,” because he had been worried about Alexander’s college expenses because she was the baby of the family and had already seen three older siblings go through college.
“It was a big blessing, because I’ve already put three through college. Now I don’t have to worry too much about her,” he said.
She added, “I feel like it means I can afford college and I don’t have to worry about it. I feel like that’s an issue for a lot of people my age.”
Now college-bound, she is looking forward to her ultimate goal of opening four restaurants. She has even started working on the menus already.