‘I was really shocked’ – Philly teen gets accepted into over a dozen schools with $1m in scholarships

Most high school seniors are worried if they will get accepted into colleges and universities, but a West Philadelphia teen is blown away by the nearly two dozen responses she got from the schools she applied to and the $1 million scholarship money that came with the acceptances.

Shanya Robinson-Owens, a senior at George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science, applied to 20 schools and has so far been accepted into 18 of them and awaiting replies from the remaining two.

According to Good Morning America, Moravian College, La Salle University, Lincoln University, Temple University, and Cabrini University are some of the schools that have replied with lots of funding options for the high school senior.

“It was kind of a surprise. I was really shocked,” said Robinson-Owens. “I didn’t know what to do, if I would cry, laugh, I didn’t know what to do.”

Her family is super proud of her achievements, even though she is a star student who currently has a 3.2-grade point average. Like most students around the world, Robinson-Owens spent the last two years learning virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic which came with its challenges.

“We are overjoyed,” her aunt Christine Owens told GMA. “I knew she wouldn’t have a problem getting into colleges, but we didn’t know they would award her this much money in scholarship funds.”

“We’ve always been extremely proud of her,” she added. “My mother has helped raise Shanya since she was a baby. We’ve just been working as a team, making sure Shanya keeps God first in anything she does and she is succeeding.”

Many students lack the means to participate in virtual classes due to the lack of amenities, especially Black students and those from ethnic minorities. Robinson-Owens came up soaring regardless.

“We’re not surprised she did get into all of the schools. I’ve just been keeping track of all of the acceptances and prizes she’s been giving and it’s just adding up day by day,” she added.

Robinson-Owens interns for her Chinese language teacher and hopes to continue learning the language in the future. She is also involved in several extracurricular activities including the yearbook committee.

“In addition to being a part of a movement to bring more social action to our school, she’s involved in a number of extracurricular activities that show the breadth of her skills, from robotics to journalism,” Ted Domers, principal at George Washington Carver, said.

“It is a privilege for us to count Shanya as one of our own and we are excited to see her create opportunities for her future.”

The college decision day is fast approaching and although the 17-year-old loves chemistry, she intends on studying psychology in college and now the question is, which one?

She intends on checking out campuses to get a sense of student life and probably wait for the two schools that are yet to respond to make an informed decision. As of now, Shanya graduates in June and says getting that many responses from schools make her choice a tad bit harder than it should be.