While most students scramble to get scholarships and grants for college, a high school senior from Philadelphia has earned more than $1 million in scholarships from 18 colleges and universities.
Shanya Robinson-Owens, 17, applied to 20 schools and has been accepted by 18 of them so far. Owens, who attends George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science, has been offered $1,074,260 in scholarships from Moravian College in Pennsylvania; Lincoln University in Missouri, and La Salle University in Philadelphia among others.
The high school senior is “shocked” to have been approved for over a million dollars in scholarships. “I didn’t know if I should cry, laugh. I didn’t know what to do,” she told WPVI.
“I didn’t know if I should cry, laugh, I didn’t know what to do.” – 17 year old Shanya’s reaction when she was awarded over $1 million dollars in scholarships to 18 of the colleges she applied to. She attends George Washington Carver High in North Philly. Her story on @6abc https://t.co/vgWoYBNnlx pic.twitter.com/yAP61AX0zK
— Christie Ileto (@Christie_Ileto) February 25, 2021
Future Plans
Owens has a 3.2 grade point average in high school. While her favorite subject is chemistry, she’s also passionate about journalism and robotics but plans to study psychology in college. Besides academics, she enjoys writing and listening to music.
Owens also works with her Chinese language teacher, helping her to grade papers. She hopes she can continue learning the language in the future.
With everything that has been going on, Owens advises college aspirants to “take time” and never to second guess themselves.
“You really have to be patient,” she said. “Stay focused. If you need to have some time away, it’s okay. You can tell your teachers that because they know you’re stressed.”
While the abundance of acceptances has made her college decision “a little harder,” Owens is still waiting to hear back from two schools. Once all schools have responded, she hopes to take a tour of their campuses before making a final decision.
Congratulatory messages have poured in for Owens ever since her news went public. City Council Member for Philadelphia’s 9th District, Cherelle Parker, congratulated her on Twitter, saying Owens is “an example of something going extraordinarily right.”