High school senior Shanya Robinson-Owens applied to more than 25 colleges and in return received offers of more than $1 million — $1,074,260 to be exact — worth of scholarship money from the 18 schools she was accepted into, Good Morning America reports.
Shanya — a 17-year-old Philadelphia native who currently attends George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science — told CNN that she didn’t have high expectations when applying to her respective schools, but was pleasantly surprised when acceptance letters started rolling in.
“I didn’t expect to get this,” she said, “I knew about the scholarships, but I didn’t expect it to be this much, at all.”
According to CNN, her family began counting her scholarship packages as she received her acceptance letters and started tracking her progress on social media via the hashtag #KeepingUpWithNya.
“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
Good Morning America shares that Shanya received generous offers from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; La Salle University in Philadelphia; Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri; Temple University in Philadelphia and Cabrini University in Radnor, Pennsylvania, among others.
While the high schooler is overwhelmed with offers and choices for her next educational pursuit, she told CNN that she’s carefully weighing her options to make the best decision for her future.
“I don’t want to base it off money and then I don’t like the school and not finish,” she says.
Shanya currently holds a 3.2 grade point average in her final year of high school. Her favorite subjects now are chemistry and physics, but she hopes to study psychology in college.
She also enjoys journalism, as she’s contributed to her school’s news website, podcast, and the yearbook committee, Good Morning America shares.
Shanya graduates from high school this June and will start her college career promptly in the fall.