When Kwasi Enin of Shirley walks through the halls of William Floyd High School, his classmates give him a wide smile and reach to shake his hand.
The 17-year-old scholar-athlete's acceptance to all eight Ivy League schools on March 27 brought him international recognition and instant rock-star status in the corridors of his soon-to-be alma mater.
But for his family, it was confirmation of the effort behind his many nights of studying, the support of his relatives and church, and the work ethic his parents have sought to instil
The admissions essay that help one Long Island boy get into 12 colleges including all eight Ivy League universities has been released.
Kwasi Enin's high SAT score of 2250 and his record of straight-A's undoubtedly helped, but now the world can also see how his eloquent explanation of his love of music apparently also sang to admissions officers.
In the biographical statement he submitted for the Common Application, he wrote about how music is 'the spark of my intellectual curiosity' and helped him connect to his community through plays.
Now that's high achievement: Kwasi Enin, 17 a senior at William Floyd High School in Shirley, New York, applied to all eight Ivy League Universities - and was accepted by the lot
'While onstage as Big Jule of Guys and Dolls during my favorite musical, I helped create a wonderful atmosphere in the school auditorium by singing and dancing,' the essay reads.
He goes on to tout his involvement in the local men's Doo Wop group as well as the chamber ensemble.
'With improvement and balance comes success, and music taught me all of these virtues,' he wrote.
'My haven for solace in and away from home is in the world of composers, harmonies and possibilities.'
Kwasi Enin matriculated at William Floyd High School, a large school on Long Island, New York. His principal said that, from the start, it was clear he would succeed
In spite of his love of the arts, the honors student who registered in the 99th percentile on the SATs explains how he hopes to major in the sciences when he makes his final school pick.
MUSICAL MOMENTS IN THE ESSAY
'A wrong decision can be the beginning or end to a lifestyle. In the seventh grade, I nearly ended my music career by opting to select a simple course- Music in Our Lives- that met the state music requirement, But this decision would have left me empty.
'While onstage as Big Jule of Guys and Dolls during my favorite musical, I helped create a wonderful atmosphere in the school auditorium by singing and dancing.
'With improvement and balance comes success, and music taught me all of these virtues.
'Whenever I perform... I become immersed in the conversations between performers and the audience.'
'The self-guided journey known as music in my life excites my mind every day. My heart sings every day because the journey is already wonderful. Although I hope that my future career is in medicine, I love that I still have much to learn about and from the world of music.'
The 17-year-old from Long Island, who had already been accepted early into Princeton, got into Brown. Columbia, Cornell, Yale and Dartmouth on March 27.
By 5pm, he had six Ivy League colleges offering him a place at their institutions, and then the toughest of them all, Harvard, sent the William Floyd High School student an email.
The university has an acceptance rate of only 5.9 per cent - meaning only 2,023 of the 34,295 applicants will get in - and they wanted Kwasi.
'I was like - this can't be happening!' Kwasi told Newsday.
He told The New York Post that much of his success is a result of his hovering 'helicopter parents', who both work as nurses after moving to America from Ghana in 1980.
'He's an amazing kid. He's very humble,' his father Ebenezer Enin said.
'He's been trained to be a high achiever right from when he was a kid.
'We have been encouraging him to be an all-around student. So far, he has proved himself.'
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