Fair Lawn Student Accepted Into 5 Ivy League Schools

FAIR LAWN, NJ — Tami Kabiawu is the definition of a high-achieving student.

The Fair Lawn High School senior, born Oluwatamilore Kabiawu, has a weighted grade point average of 4.61, has been a varsity track athlete since his freshman year, and is the president of both the Future Business Leaders of America and the National Honor Society. Believe it or not, that's just a condensed list of his achievements.

That list got even longer recently when Kabiawu learned he'd been accepted into 17 colleges and universities, including five Ivy League schools.

Kabiawu waited until Ivy Day, April 6, to open letters he'd received from colleges like Yale and Cornell. He was accepted to both of those schools, and waitlisted at the University of Pennsylvania.

Then the other acceptance letters started rolling in.

Columbia, Princeton and Harvard — his likely choice, at this point — came as unexpected victories. His family was "jumping for joy" by the end of the night.

"I was surprised beyond belief and still am," said Kabiawu.

"I’m more so just excited that so many schools saw promise in me and am looking forward to using these resources to make a difference."

Kabiawu was born in London, but moved to Atlanta then Troy, New York, where he attended elementary school while his mother pursued a Ph.D. at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), according to a news release from Fair Lawn Schools. The family relocated to Fair Lawn when Kabiawu started sixth grade at Memorial Middle School.

Since, he's made a lasting impact on the people within the Fair Lawn schools community.

"This could not have happened to a better young man. His humility, hard work, persistence and emotional intelligence is far beyond his years. The college of his choosing should be excited about the student they are getting in the fall, but even more excited about the person," said Joseph Lake, Kabiawu's guidance counselor.

Which college that is hasn't been decided yet, but Harvard is the front-runner for now. Still, Kabiawu has a plan for his college years.

"My goal is to work on innovations in AI and augmented reality and I hope to work on research and projects in these fields in college," he said.

Kabiawu is set to graduate on June 22 at Fair Lawn High School's Sasso Field.

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