Feature Photo By: Yonas Bayu / Onyi Ozoma- Ozoma (left) and Bayu (right) are pictured with the groups of students who accompanied them during their recent college visits. Ozoma spent the summer of 2016 at Princeton University in New Jersey, while Bayu visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
With Rangeview’s class of 2017 coming closer and closer to the end of their high school experience, many senior students are in a state of panic. Where will I go to college? Are my grades good enough? Where do I start? However, some students are prepared and excited to continue with their academic careers. These seniors have put in the time, effort, and skill that it requires to succeed in high school and in life. Onyi Ozoma and Yonas Bayu are two of these students.
Ozoma and Bayu have killed their high school careers and are one step ahead of the majority of seniors. With both Ozoma and Bayu sitting at a 4.67 GPA they were excellent candidates for the extended college visits that they took to two very prestigious universities.
Ozoma embarked on a seven week long trip to Princeton University where he got the opportunity to get “help with the application and the connections” to assist him with his college experience.
“The experience was amazing,” Ozoma exclaimed. “It opened my eyes so much and I grew intellectually…. I also learned a ton about the college process and got so driven. I truly feel like I can get into Stanford now and I’m so grateful for all of the opportunities they gave to us. I got to receive great writing work, great intellectual classes, great test prep, and I got to go on great college trips to schools I wouldn’t have otherwise seen.”
Over the summer, Bayu traveled to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through the MITES program. During this six week long visit he participated in presentations, social events, and several classes based on his interests in majors.
Although they went to different universities, Bayu agreed with Ozoma that the experience he gained during his college visit was very influential.
“My MITES experience was like entering a new dimension in my life,” Bayu explained. “Over the course of the program I was empowered by perspectives of kids from all over the country. The program not only took me out of my comfort zone academically, but socially as well. From learning how to salsa dance, to being inspired to learn how to play an instrument, to going to a beach for the first time. I had the greatest summer of my life.”
College visits are essential to high school seniors in order to figure out if the colleges they plan to go to are a good fit for them. Visiting campuses provides valuable insight to the college experience that students simply cannot get anyway else.
“You can find things out that you normally wouldn’t through admissions counselors,” Ozoma explained.
Bayu agreed with Ozoma, exclaiming the importance of feeling at home in a college campus.
“It’s important that students are able to feel a sense of community at wherever they attend,” added Bayu. “This is a place where hopefully you’ll spend at least four years so it’s important to think ahead and try to picture yourself at that particular college.”
Rangeview social studies teacher Mrs.Walsh has had the experience of teaching both Bayu and Ozoma in AP government last school year and she is confident in their excellence.
“One thing that stands out about Onyi is his passion to understand. Though he likes to get good grades, he likes to improve whatever’s around him more. He just has a genuine good heart,” explained Walsh. “Yonas also has a good heart but he loves to solve problems and he wants to fix the world… He’s got that scientific mind that’s really impressive.”
Walsh later added that no matter what Ozoma and Bayu decide to do they will both certainly make a “huge impact” on the people and community around them.
In the fall of 2017 Ozoma hopes to study computer science with a possible double major in business management and/or urban studies at Stanford University. Bayu is still deciding between attending Harvard University or MIT for his studies in global health.
