Serena Omo-Lamai has been granted admission to study in 13 universities
in America and Canada, she has opted for Syracuse University, United
States.
Omo-Lamai, who graduated from Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, last year,
would be going to the states to study Bio-Medical Engineering.
The Punch reports that some of the universities where
she was offered admission include Emory University, Georgia Institute
of Technology, New York University, among others. Speaking in a
telephone interview with newsmen on Monday, Omo-Lamai said she settled
for Syracuse University because of the institution’s world-class
research laboratory and a $51,000 scholarship offer.
The teenager, who aspires to be a medical engineer, disclosed that she
would study medicine as a second degree. “I feel very honoured and I
feel it is an opportunity to work harder. I know that I have to justify
the offer. I chose Syracuse University because it has a very good
research lab and the offer came with $51,000 scholarship. I have always
loved Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geography.
“
My hope is to study medicine for a second degree, but I would love
to be a medical engineer. Most of the medical equipment in the country
are imported and I would like a situation where medical equipment is
manufactured here in Nigeria.
“My parents are my role models, but I am also inspired by anyone who
is hard working, anyone who puts so much efforts into what they do,” she said.
Serena Omo-Lamai is not the first of Nigerian teenagers to achieve an
educational feat of such magnitude, it would be recalled that High
school senior Harold Ekeh didn’t just get into one Ivy League
university. He was accepted into all eight. Ekeh got into all 13 schools
he applied to, including MIT and Johns Hopkins. “I am leaning toward
Yale,” he told CNNMoney. “I competed at Yale for Model UN, and I like
the passion people at Yale had.” Some of the Yale students he met became
his friends and mentors, offering advice on the college application
process. Now Ekeh is trying to do the same thing.
Ekeh, 17, founded a college mentoring program at his school, Elmont
Memorial High School on Long Island in the New York city suburbs. His
goal is to get more students into top universities. The Nigeria born
teenager came to the United states when he was eight. He wrote his main
college essay about the struggle to adjust, including being clueless in
US history classes at school. He said he would ask his parents
repeatedly why they moved.
“We had a fairly comfortable life in Nigeria, but they told me we moved
to America for the opportunities like the educational opportunities,” he
recalled. CNNMoney reports that the salutatorian is quick to credit his
parents, school and community for his success. “I am very humbled by
this,” Ekeh said in an interview. “It’s not just for me, but for my
school and community. We can accomplish great things here.”