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Harold Ekeh, an impressive 18-year-old high school senior, has the toughest decision ever to make: He’s been accepted to every college he’s applied to, including all eight ivy leagues. What’s more incredible is that we remember a very similar story from last year from another amazing Black teen, Kwasi Enin, who faced the same incredible fate and chose Yale. Talk about making your momma proud!

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“It was crazy. My mom sat next to me and it was just letter after letter after letter. I couldn’t believe it,” Harold told DailyMail as he recounted the five minutes when acceptance emails came in from Yale, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, NYU, MIT, Vanderbilt and SUNY Stony Brook. Following the overflow of great news, he did something any teenager would to — he went to Chipotle with his friends for a half-steak, half-chicken burrito bowl for his “perfect” celebration.

With a staggering score of 2270 on his SAT’s, it’s clear Ekeh is a scholar. At Elmont Memorial High School in Long Island, New York, he serves are the editor-in-chief of his student newspaper, as well as chief executive of the Model United Nations.
And it’s no wonder why Ekeh wrote a personal essay that resonated with every college he went after. In it, he described his family’s struggle in fitting in after immigrating to America, as well as his parents’ continuous inspiration for him to keep pushing for his best.
No matter how many times they got knocked down, they stayed positive, and kept telling me that the secret to success in unbridled resolve,” Ekeh says.
What a kid! We love these kinds of stories because young Black men need encouragement right now more than ever and it’s kids like Ekeh who prove that Black excellence is abundant.
And the young scholar humbly appreciates his gift, but he knows it’s not magic or luck, “I just worked hard and took every opportunity that was afforded to me.” He knows the sky is the limit and even preaches that same sermon to his younger brothers.

But that doesn’t mean his decision will be easy.
I’m torn because each school offers something different, and there are so many different things I’m looking for,’ he said. ‘I want to go to a good school where I can study hard, but I also want somewhere where I feel comfortable; somewhere I could imagine calling home,” he says. Harold has his sight set on Yale, but is open to his golden opportunities.
When he finally does choose a school, Ekeh says he is thinking of going into neurosurgery to study Alzheimer’s because his grandmother is currently suffering from it.

His proud parents have been sharing the good news on their Facebook pages, exclaiming, “Bless the LORD! Congrats Son, in Jesus’ name!”

Paul Ekeh, the young man’s father, says, “It was like a thunderbolt. I didn’t doubt that he could achieve good things but it was the sweep that made it so different. I don’t know how to say how I feel. It’s amazing.!”

It really is! Keep shining Harold Ekeh!

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