17-Year-Old Student Earns Both High School Diploma And 2-Year College Degree: ‘My True Motivation Was My Immigrant Parents’
A 17-year-old student earned both a high school diploma and a two-year associate’s degree in college at the same time. Adrian Ottah had the opportunity to pursue both tracks at his school, where professors teach college courses to a select group of students.
The student attends the University High School in Newark, NJ. Through the program, Ottah earned 60 college credits. He said the classes were more difficult than his high school ones, but he still followed through with them.
“I’m graduating with over a 3.0 GPA in a college class while juggling high school classes as well, and I have a 3.5 in high school,” he told ABC 7 NY.
“My true motivation was my parents, my immigrant parents,” Adrian Ottah said. “I know they didn’t have the opportunity to do this, so when I had the opportunity, I just took it and ran with it.” https://t.co/my0ROjlw1F
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His mother noted how proud she is.
“It’s amazing, I’m out of words – I’m so proud of him,” Miriam Watson said.
Ottah’s parents moved from Nigeria to New Jersey before their son was born. They decided to relocate their life “for greener pastures.”
“I heard America you could live your dream, I said OK, let me go see that dream,” Watson told the news outlet.
This is what motivated Ottah to pursue higher education early on.
“My true motivation was my parents, my immigrant parents, I know they didn’t have the opportunity to do this, so when I had the opportunity, I just took it and ran with it,” he said.
