A grade 12 student at Westwood Community High School is going to be attending Columbia University after receiving numerous prestigious scholarship offers.

Shreeya Patel recently turned down a $120,000 scholarship to the University of San Francisco in favour of heading to New York to pursue engineering at the prestigious school.

“Although I will not be attending the University of San Francisco, it was incredible news for me to see what the last three years of tenacity and academic rigour have opened up for me in terms of financial help,” she said.

“Attending Columbia will be a big change, but I am looking forward to new experiences and opportunities in NYC. Since the first year will be general engineering studies, I truly hope I can find out more about engineering specializations then and enjoy my time fully.”

Patel is well known in the region for her achievements like being named the youngest ever ‘Woman of Inspiration’, being a published children’s author to championing STEM for girls, playing varsity sports, and teaching elementary kids at Westview.

Cynthia Shelley, Principal at Westwood, can’t say enough about Shreeya.

“This young lady continues to impress and I know she will continue to do so in her promising future. Shreeya jumps in with both feet with everything that she undertakes. She is an honours AP student, as well as an incredible artist and athlete. Her hard work, creativity and astounding achievements can be summed up in one word: INSPIRATIONAL!”

Patel is reportedly receiving near the same amount of financial aid from Columbia University as she was offered by the University of San Francisco.