After obtaining 19 full-ride scholarship offers from universities across the United States and Canada, one Nigerian teenager must feel like she has the world at her feet.
According to admission records and estimates of financial aid grants, Victory Yinka-Banjo, a 17-year-old high school graduate, received more than $5 million in scholarships for an undergraduate programme of study.
CNN reports Victory relishing her academic prowess, saying, “It still feels pretty unbelievable. I applied to so many schools because I didn’t think any school would accept me.”
Victory was born in Nigeria to Adeyinka Banjo, a private sector supply chain executive and senior lecturer at the University of Lagos, and Chika Yinka-Banjo. The Ivy League schools Yale College, Princeton University, Harvard College, and Brown University offered Victory potential full scholarships.
The University of Virginia, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were among the other US universities to extend scholarship offers.
Victory in Canada was eligible for the Lester B. Pearson Scholarship at the University of Toronto and the Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow (KMILOT) Scholarship at the University of British Columbia.
“Their admissions processes are extremely selective,” Victory added. “They only accept the best of the best. So, you can imagine how, daily, I have to remind myself that I actually got into these schools. It is surreal!”
Academic strides
Victory, a senior prefect in high School, became well-known on the national stage in late 2020 after she received all As in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
A few months prior, the Nigerian youngster had received the University of Cambridge International Examination’s (CIE) “Top in the World” rating for speaking English as a second language. Victory did quite well in the Cambridge IGCSE exam, earning As in the six topics she took.
Victory told CNN that her exceptional accomplishments are the result of her perseverance.
“They have made me feel proud about the hard work I have put into several areas of my life over the years. I am slowly realising that I deserve them,” she said.
The teenager remarked that her multiple scholarship offers “have made me stand taller, smile wider, and pat myself on the back more often.”
Victory stated her desire to get a degree in computational biology. Numerous famous schools have courted her, but she still debates which one to attend.
“I am still researching some schools at the top of my list, like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and just trying to compare and contrast them thoroughly,” she told CNN.
An inspiration to Nigerian youth
Victory’s mother, Chika, says her daughter’s story could inspire other young Nigerians.
“It is noteworthy that she is not one of the Nigerian-Americans who often get into these schools because of their advantage of being born and bred in the US. She completed her secondary school here [in Nigeria]. It would be great if her story can be used to inspire the youths of our country,” she told CNN.
Victory credits her academic success to faith, parental guidance, and discipline. In her free time, she tutors other university admission seekers on key subjects such as math, English, biology, chemistry, and physics over the radio.
