Columbus Monthly / May 2012 / Super Students: Sakina Abu Boakye

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Super Students: Sakina Abu Boakye

First, mastering English; now, off to the Ivy League

She spoke no English when she moved here six years ago. A placement test administered by Columbus City Schools determined that Sakina Abu Boakye could continue in sixth grade, an academic year that had begun in a rural middle school on the outskirts of Milan, Italy. Her parents, originally from Ghana, were making a new life in the United States, searching for a better opportunity after leaving the intense racial discrimination they faced as African immigrants in Italy.

“It was a rough transition,” Boakye says quietly. “But I watched the Disney Channel to pick up English. After the first month, it came pretty easily.”

So easily, in fact, for this gifted student that she aced the English portion of her ACTs with a perfect score. So easily, she’s become Ivy League material and will attend Dartmouth in the fall.

But this Cinderella story has not been a perfect fairy tale for the 17-year-old, who’s a slender, fashionably dressed, outgoing student quick to flash her broad smile. Her parents have divorced. Her mom, Amma, lives in Iowa; they speak frequently by phone. Ishamel, her dad, works two jobs, as a janitor and a caregiver for developmentally disabled patients. His work schedule precludes many of her after-school activities—she has no way to get home. Boakye misses her older sister, who stayed behind when the family moved here.

And yet, the girl who had never ridden a school bus nor had her own locker, who still answered the phone in Italian months after moving to the U.S., found her way. Securing a spot at Columbus Alternative High School, a magnet school for academically gifted students, she tackled tough courses and was a constant presence on the honor roll. In physics, “I didn’t breeze through. I had to try really hard,” she says, smiling. She took four AP classes and scored well enough in each to become an AP Scholar with Honor. In addition to Twi, a Ghanaian dialect, and Italian, she added Spanish to the list of languages she speaks. Studying government, her love for politics blossomed. She became editor of the school newspaper, president of the National Honor Society and founded a service club.

“Nobody’s better suited to an Ivy League than Sakina,” says Sebastian Restrepo, director of HighRise Academy, a mentoring program for low-income students that provides assistance with test prep, college applications and financial aid forms. “Sakina’s extraordinary. She makes everyone around her better.”            

Boakye, who will be the first in her family to attend college, intends to pursue religious studies at Dartmouth, but envisions herself with a law degree someday. Winning “Outstanding Attorney” at the district and regional competitions of Ohio Mock Trial has given her greater appreciation for the skills needed to become a successful lawyer. “It taught me how to word my arguments,” she says. “And be persuasive.”

She views public speaking as her greatest achievement, especially in Mock Trial and the Poetry Out Loud program. “We read and interpret poetry, then are judged on our performance,” she explains and adds with a laugh, “I can now use all that English I had to learn.”