Once Isioma Ikhile opened the application portal on her phone and saw the news, she couldn’t wait to call her mother. And then there was screaming – the good kind – on both ends of the line.
The star student who goes by “Si” would be going to Harvard on a full scholarship.
Si, this year’s salutatorian at Stratford STEM Magnet High School, will be a first-generation college student when she starts classes at the nation’s oldest and most prestigious university this fall. Her achievement is a tribute to her talent, drive, and intellect – and a major triumph for GEAR UP, the federally funded MNPS program that has worked with Si and thousands of other students to help them see and prepare for the possibilities of college and careers since 2018.
“GEAR UP has been so helpful in the whole application process,” Si, who lived in Nigeria until she was 10, said on a recent afternoon as she prepared for both a trip to Harvard and the Stratford prom the following weekend. “In Nigeria, you weren’t having all these extracurricular activities. Everything was just going to school and coming back.
“The staff is so supportive. Having somebody who just celebrates all your wins and comforts you whenever you feel losses has been really, really helpful. This year was definitely a roller coaster, and GEAR UP has been here for me every step of the way.”
GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is in the final year of its seven-year grant. Staff members have served the Class of 2024 and Class of 2025 at seven high schools – Antioch, Cane Ridge, Glencliff, Maplewood, John Overton, Pearl-Cohn, and Stratford – starting when those students were still in middle school in 2019-20.
Once the students reached high school, GEAR UP was serving more than 4,000 students each year, said Mark Photivihok, a GEAR UP specialist at Stratford. Students who graduated in 2024 have continued to receive support from the program during their first year of college.
Scientist, Athlete, and More
For Si, GEAR UP’S support has included assistance with college financial aid forms that weren’t easy for her mother, a native of Nigeria, to complete.
“They were definitely tailored to an American experience,” Si said.
Si also benefited from The Top Floor, a Stratford program that helps students explore and apply for college, scholarships, and other financial aid, and the work of Josie Greene of Martha O’Bryan Center, a key partner in the GEAR UP work.
Si, who just turned 17, was born in California but soon moved to Nigeria. Her family moved to Georgia when she was 10 before coming to Nashville when she was in the eighth grade.
As soon as she got to Stratford for ninth grade, Si dove in. She has loved the Interdisciplinary Science and Research (ISR) pathway in the Academy of Science and Engineering, which has led to fun and productive research internships at Vanderbilt University, and has taken Advanced Placement classes as well as a course taught by Howard University through the National Education Equity Lab.
She also has participated in Girls Who Code, Southern Word, the marching band, and MNPS’s Career-Based Learning program and is one of the founders of Stratford’s International Student Union. She’s a wrestler, a cross-country and track runner, and a flag football player – and, in her down time, a crocheter.
“We’re very proud of her,” Photivihok said. “She’s done so much hard work, sticking with all these things. It’s amazing that she’s been able to accomplish all that she did.”
And now she’s preparing to head to Cambridge, Mass., with the help of not only the full Harvard scholarship but also a Gates Scholarship, which will help with summer program costs and personal expenses, and a Scarlett Family Foundation Scholarship. Si said she’ll study biomedical engineering at Harvard so she can eventually go to graduate school and then design new pharmaceuticals and other medical solutions.
Asked what she loves about Stratford, she talked about her friends and also praised the staff.
“They’re so interesting, but in a good way,” she said. “They’re always down to help and introduce you to opportunities. I feel like I’ve been able to blossom and grow with the help of these staff.”
