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Akintunde Ahmad and Kwasi Enin: high school celebritiesIt's common for high schools to hold news conferences to announce where their star athletes will go to college. And it's common for observers to mutter: “Why don't we give our top students the same glory we give the football players?” Consider it done. Last week, Ellen DeGeneres invited Akintunde Ahmad, an inner-city Oakland teen, onto her TV show to disclose his college choice. A baseball player and musician with a 5.0 GPA and 2,100 on his SATs, Ahmad had plenty of choices, including Brown and Columbia. “I've been a Bulldog for the past four years at Oakland Tech, and I'm going to continue to be a Bulldog,” he told DeGeneres's audience, which included his parents. "I'm going to Yale University!” DeGeneres then gave him a $15,000 check from Shutterfly toward expenses that Yale's financial aid won't cover. Ahmad's 15 minutes of fame actually lasted several days, until Kwasi Enin came along with his own media event. The Long Islander made national headlines a month ago by getting accepted to all eight Ivy League schools. Yesterday, he held a news conference at William Floyd High School to reveal his decision. “And the winner is . . . Yale,” CNN proclaimed. Enin pinned his choice on his recent visit to campus with other admitted students: “My Bulldog Days experience last week was incredible. I met geniuses from all across the world. And everyone there was so friendly and inviting.” Enin has a 14-year-old sister. “I told her, ‘Look, I believe you can do better than him,’” their father says. Maybe we'll see them again in four years.
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Kwasi Enin, Akintunde Ahmad
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