{"id":3658,"date":"2024-03-19T11:06:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T15:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/destinationnewark.net\/blog\/?p=2946"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:21:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:21:02","slug":"off-to-harvard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/devenrobinson.com\/destinationnewark2\/youth\/off-to-harvard\/","title":{"rendered":"Off to Harvard!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Name:<\/strong> Achunike Okafor<br><strong>Age:<\/strong>\u00a0 18<br><strong>High School:<\/strong>\u00a0 Science Park High School (Newark, NJ)<br><strong>College:\u00a0<\/strong> Harvard University<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Achunike Okafor is a prime example of Newark\u2019s excellence. He began his freshman year this fall at Harvard University, one of the country\u2019s most prestigious Ivy League universities, after graduating from \u00adNewark\u2019s Science Park High School with the highest GPA in the school district\u2019s \u00adhistory. He was offered admission and scholarships to more than 40 schools prior to choosing Harvard, where he is studying neuroscience and film on a full scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okafor dedicated his high school years to working hard and studying for at least seven hours every night, gaining him a 4.625 GPA at the time of graduation. He says that his goal was just to make it into college and was very shocked at the honor of having the highest GPA in the school district. He attributes his drive and goal setting to his father, an Algebra teacher, who taught him the importance of a college degree and hard work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While in high school, Okafor participated in the International Baccalaureate program, which is a program designed to improve the world through education. He was also in the Audible Future Leaders program, which is a paid internship and college scholarship program available to Newark high school students. Okafor credits these programs for teaching him valuable time management skills that helped him balance school and social life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked what advice he would have for students looking to achieve some of the same things he did, Okafor says, \u201cStart early and work really hard because you may think you have time, and that\u2019s not the case. Everything you do from freshman year and up, colleges are watching you\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okafor told NJ.com, \u201cA lot of people from here become successful and never look back. That isn\u2019t how I want my story to end. I want to come back and serve Newark to the best of my ability.\u201d \u00ad<strong><em>\u2014Kayla Cole<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Name: Achunike OkaforAge:\u00a0 18High School:\u00a0 Science Park High School (Newark, NJ)College:\u00a0 Harvard University Achunike Okafor is a prime example of Newark\u2019s excellence. He began his freshman year this fall at Harvard University, one of the country\u2019s most prestigious Ivy League universities, after graduating from \u00adNewark\u2019s Science Park High School with the highest GPA in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"hide","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"0","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[275,264,276,277,278],"class_list":["post-3658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-youth","tag-audible-future-leaders","tag-fall-2023","tag-harvard-university","tag-science-park-high-school","tag-student-spotlight"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Off to Harvard! - Destination Newark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Achunike Okafor is a prime example of Newark\u2019s excellence. 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