Fairfield home-school student wins full-ride scholarship

FAIRFIELD — A Fairfield home-school student has earned a full-ride scholarship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

The student is Dawood Olaniyi, and he earned the scholarship through QuestBridge, a competitive program that matches high-achieving students with universities. Olaniyi is in elite company, as only 1,600 QuestBridge scholarships are given out each year to students across the country.

Olaniyi has never attended a “traditional” school. Throughout his elementary and junior high years, Olaniyi was taught by his parents at home. As he grew, Olaniyi assumed more responsibility for his own education by reading textbooks in advanced subjects.

Olaniyi also took advantage of the Fairfield Homeschool Assistance Program, which has classrooms for home-school students at Fairfield Middle School. He said this program gave him access to textbooks and the chance to interact with other home-school students. Olaniyi began teaching a class to his fellow home-schoolers in eighth grade, a class on computer circuit boards, which he still teaches today as a senior.

“Now we’re doing fun stuff like game design,” Olaniyi said.

Karen Price supervises grades 5-12 in the home-school assistance program. She said Olaniyi is a great teacher, and his lessons are well organized and exciting.

“When I started out, I was fascinated by the stuff you could do it with it,” Olaniyi said. “When I teach, I try to hit the high points so the students can feel the excitement, and don’t have to struggle with the menial stuff. I feel happy with how the classes have gone.”

The students at the home-school program go on field trips together, too, such as visiting the Jefferson County Nature Center, or doing a robotics workshop with Jefferson County ISU Extension.

Price said the program offers these activities to all home-school students, though not everybody comes.

“But [Dawood’s] family are stalwarts. They come to all the activities they can,” Price said.

Price said other activities have included international food fairs and a canoe trip.

Olaniyi has two older half-siblings, sister Aluna and brother Oba, and they both went to public school. His two younger siblings, brothers Mo and Joe, have been home-schooled just like him.

“It’s cool because we have a little classroom experience in our living room,” Olaniyi said.

Olaniyi said he helps his younger brothers as much as he can. Dawood is helping Mo study for the A.C.T. exam now, and he’s helping Joe on 3D modeling in game design.

QuestBridge

Price told Olaniyi’s mother about the QuestBridge scholarship. Olaniyi remembers that it was a lengthy application, and Price wrote him an “excellent” recommendation letter. Olaniyi learned he made it through the first round, becoming a prep scholar, which meant he was invited to apply for the National Match Program. He was selected for that program, too, and won a four-year full-ride scholarship covering tuition, books, room and board. He listed his top schools that he wanted to enroll in, and was matched with Brown University, an Ivy League school.

“I’m definitely happy with Brown,” he said.

Olaniyi plans to study computer science in college and to one day start his own digital entertainment company.

“My first ambition will be to land a good software job at a high-level company like Google, Facebook or Netflix,” he said.

Price said Olaniyi’s example shows the value of QuestBridge, especially for students in rural areas who might not be exposed to elite universities outside the state. She said Olaniyi’s acceptance in the program is a testament to his work ethic.

“He’s very self-motivated,” Price said. “The thing that has impressed me the most is how he’s gotten through his high school classes on his own. I gave him a physics textbook and the teacher’s manual, and he just went with it. If he didn’t understand something, he found a place to explain it online. He’s been an excellent student all along.”