Ozarks Student Gets Full Ride to Harvard University
By: Marybeth Brush
Updated: May 16, 2007
Getting into an Ivy League university seems hard, but scoring a full ride seems almost impossible. But for one School of the Osage senior, it’s a dream come true.
Imagine your excitement when you child gets into Harvard, then the realization that it will empty your wallet sets in. Well, Lei'La' Bryant's parents won't have to shell out the over $200,000 for her college tuition, thanks to her academic achievements
“I'm not too computer savvy,” admits Bryant.
Computer savvy she may not be, but many agree Lei'La' Bryant is school savvy.
She says, “I've been in clubs since freshman year and remain a 4.0.”
A day before Bryant is set to graduate from School of the Osage, she's still in the classroom working on a yearbook project. But this overachieving student has big plans for her future.
“It was a dream come true. It was amazing.” says Bryant.
She’s talking about not only getting into the school of her dreams, Harvard University, but getting a full ride to attend.
“Harvard has an amazing English program. They have a lot of great opportunities and study abroad opportunities where they pay you to take research project abroad.” says Bryant.
But the road to Harvard took a lot of hard work. She even did a groundbreaking science experiment this year that's catching the eye of area law enforcement.
“I was actually doing the experiment to prove another scientist wrong.” explains Bryant.
Bryant trained moths to find meth.
She says, “I trained moths to whenever they smelled ether they would be getting food after.”
With all this hard work, Bryant doesn't plan on stopping and already has a job lined up for college.
“I'm really excited because the English program is so amazing. I’ve already got a job at the library. I’m so excited. It's awesome.” says Bryant.
As you can guess Bryant is majoring in English and hopes to become an English professor. Here's another bonus of her going to Harvard. She tells KOLR/KSFX when a student graduates from Harvard with a major in English, they get an automatic transfer to Oxford University in England to get their Ph.D. something Bryant definitely plans on doing.
