By DeMario P. Smith

The third generation Nigerian student was previously named valedictorian in eighth grade and has offers from colleges like Yale, Harvard and Cornell. A high school senior at Albany High in New York has been named the first Black valedictorian in the school’s 153-year history.

Onovu Otitigbe-Dangerfield, a third-generation Nigerian student, is graduating at the top of her class at Albany High School, building upon a lauded academic portfolio that saw her also honored as the valedictorian of her eighth grade graduating class, the Albany Times Union reported.

“I think that just being able to be valedictorian is an amazing accomplishment,” she said. “I’m very privileged to be in that position but to have some historical meaning behind it, to have a position where in my school there’s a lot of students who look like me, now I’ll have an opportunity to live by that mantra –if you can see it you can be it.”

Growing up, the senior scholar said she was enrolled by her mother in several science and robotics camps near their home. As a toddler, Otitigbe-Dangerfield won her first engineering competition by constructing a bridge out of toothpicks and gumdrops.

Originally published at Blavity