Springfield, MA — Roberta Hannah, an 18-year old senior at Springfield High School of Science and Technology in Massachusetts, has made history after being accepted into all of the 8 Ivy League schools.The surprising news came amid the coronavirus pandemic that unexpectedly altered the course of events for the Class of 2020, giving her a reason to celebrate despite that.
Hannah, who is a student-athlete who plays track and field, said it was really not that easy to achieve what she did. But she worked hard and took honors and AP classes to be ready for it. She is currently preparing for 7 AP exams.
Hannah said she initially wanted to apply to just 3 schools, but her mother and sister encouraged her to apply to all of the 8 ivy league schools. She did so without much expectation and thought that she would only be accepted into 4. But she actually got accepted to all 8.
“I was really anxious getting up to the day, and then I started opening the letters, and I was like ‘oh, I keep seeing ‘yes,'” she told Western Mass News.
Hannah is grateful for her sister and mother who motivated her to achieve more. Her mother, Valerie Williams, was not able to attend college but she made sure to push her children “a little extra hard” to have the opportunity she didn’t have before.
Out of all the ivy league schools she could choose, Hannah plans to attend Columbia University and major in biochemistry and African-American studies.
“So my goal is to be a medicinal chemist, but with making medicine and kind of the one researching it,” she said. “I want my focus to be on increasing accessibility and making the medicine more affordable.”