17-year-old Ive Jones accepted in 45 colleges, gets over $4m in scholarships

Ive Jones is a graduating senior at Apex Friendship High School in North Carolina. Having been accepted into 45 colleges across the United States, Jones’ achievement made for plenty to revel amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has infected some 1,550,539 Americans with 91,985 deaths.

Jones also received more than $4 million in scholarships for her incredible feat WTVD reports. “I actually applied to about 50 (colleges),” she was quoted as saying. “I love to do things in overkill.”

She plans to attend Princeton, saying “it’s definitely my go-to school.”

With a fervent desire to make the world a better place, WTVD reports that eight years earlier, Jones mobilized a fundraising campaign at the age of 11 to help children orphaned by the Ebola outbreak with a set goal of raising $4,000.

Jones plans to major in global health at Princeton, saying: “As a student, these things are things we’re going to be discussing in class and I’m going to need to know thoroughly in order to apply my knowledge later on.”  

According to Because of Them We Can, last year Jones as part of her quest to see a better world organized a health conference in Raleigh, North Carolina to inspire young women and people of color to pursue careers in STEM. 

“Being awesome was being authentically me, and I didn’t know that until I saw other Black kids doing it,” she told Because of Them We Can.

Catherine Jones could not hide her excitement following her daughter’s amazing achievement. She was quoted as saying: “I’m immensely proud of her. She’s just a hardworking person.”

She added: “(Graduation) was a moment we’ve looked forward to. But in everything you have to find gratitude. And you know, at the end of the day we’ll still get to celebrate. I’m west African and we find ways to celebrate.”