Zariah Nolan already enrolled at Dillard University for the upcoming fall semester. (@zeenoxo Twitter)
As many students are beginning to settle on what college they’ll attend in the fall, one Memphis, Tenn., high school senior already knows not only where she’ll go but how she’ll pay for it.
Zariah Nolan, 18, is a member of predominantly Black Whitehaven High School’s 2017 senior class, which has earned more than $80 million in total scholarship offers, and she is the top earner at about $9.6 million, according to ABC News.
“My principal always told us you never know where life can take you, so apply anywhere just to see,” Nolan, who took advantage of the Common Black College Application and other group application websites, said.
CBCA is a popular tool college hopefuls use that allows students to pay a one-time $35 application fee to apply to up to 51 historically Black colleges and universities registered on the site. Nolan applied to about 100 schools in total, all of which accepted her, got 17 full-ride scholarships and, according to her tweets, decided to study psychology at New Orleans’ Dillard University this fall.
https://twitter.com/zeenoxo/status/852598619060482049
Nolan, who has a 3.5 GPA and began sending applications long before senior year started, said her mother, godmother and English teacher helped her reach success.
“I had an English teacher [named] Ms. Young who attended Duke University and Loyola Marymount University in California and I was like, ‘This woman is all over the place.’ She is an [alumnus] of Whitehaven High School and she came back to teach before she went off to law school,” Nolan told ABC News. “I used her as a great resource to figure out what I needed to do to get scholarship money and I had her look over my essays. I needed motivation from someone who had done it and she has been there every step of the way.”
Many online have been celebrating Nolan’s high-earning accomplishment.
https://twitter.com/jedibinsonn/status/852693232563695616
If i could ever be on her level i would do it in a heartbeat. You're inspiring 😍 https://t.co/0LsUlOgndb
— iyona 💕 (@_iyyoonnaa) April 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/aylinnhurtado/status/852714893002330112
Go head girl! https://t.co/la290KP1EC
— Sammie Jackson (@Totes_HighClass) April 14, 2017
