My name is Kenneth Adusei and I was born to two Ghanaians- Michelle Mensah and Ampofo Adusei. Although I was born in America, I went to Ghana at the age of five to live with my father who had a business there while my mom studied to be a nurse. To say we were wealthy was an understatement. In our neighborhood of Sowutuom, Accra, I lived in the only fully built house, with the only self-sustaining water supply, with the only maid. My father could afford the best tutor and a personalized driver for his kids. Then, at the age of eight, I was brought back down to earth- or America. It was very interesting that in the land believed to be paved with gold, I was living in an apartment the size of our dad’s bedroom in Ghana.

For a while, it was five of us (soon six) living in a one bedroom apartment in Worcester. Then our dad left.  He went back to Ghana to maintain the business he had there while my mom took care of us. The first six months of school were the hardest part about coming to the US. I didn’t have a tutor anymore so I had to learn a new accent, orders of operation, and cursive by myself and with the occasional help of my mom distracted by the human being kicking her stomach every five minutes. But that all changed the day my mother handed me a book. It was the afternoon after she had seen my third grade report card. I remember my mom saying, after seeing how horrible my grades were, “I’m not sacrificing for you guys to get these grades.” Reading those books had a significant impact on me. By the fourth grade, I was reading at a level two grades above me and getting extra math work to do because I finished my class work faster than anyone else.

Today, I give my success to that day. I have achieved a lot such as the honor roll all four years of High School, being inducted into my school’s National Honors Society and Tri-M music Honors Society, and receiving my school’s Harvard Book Award. I am also glad that all the hard work paid off in terms of college. This year, I was accepted into Harvard University, MIT, Yale University, and Princeton University. I have decided to attend Yale University where I will be studying either Molecular Biology or Physics.

My hope is that one day, I will use the knowledge I have gained all the years to make a revolutionary discovery in science. What it will be? Well I leave that into God’s hands but I always pray that when I die, I want my biography to be staked next to those of Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.