Stanford University’s newest attendee, Zion Asemota, is ready to step foot into the world of Computer Science at the farm! Asemota received the Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship, which landed her an internship at Amazon plus a hefty amount of the tuition per year. Additionally earning a school-sponsored scholarship, her achievements got her a full ride to Stanford. The scholarships played a big role in deciding to attend Stanford along with many other outside factors. The adequate distance from home, a prestigious computer science history, and a more lax environment all intrigued Asemota. Representation and activities for the Black community are also contributing factors in her decision to attend Stanford. Asemota chose Stanford over other prestigious institutions like Columbia University, Cornell University, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and more (many of which she received scholarships for).

This illustrious scholar looks to continue her love for coding and computer science while venturing into other interesting fields like African and African-American studies. Asemota’s love for coding began in her childhood as her cousin introduced her to Codecademy and from then on she fell in love with the idea of coding and became addicted to it. The flame was reignited about two years ago as she entered herself in coding competitions. Asemota hopes to combine entrepreneurship and computer science to start a business with the goal of recruiting more women of color in STEM and computer science.

“I feel like there are a lot of issues in the world and me taking steps to tackle things like a lack of diversity or representation in these industries, helps to diminish some of those issues,” Asemota said.

Asemota references her time in the club “Girls Can Code,” in which, during quarantine, the club taught 800 elementary students how to code, as one of her favorite high school experiences. She also looks back fondly on the Wolfgang dance battle as a great example of the energy of the crowds at events here at CHS.

As she enters her first year at Stanford, Asemota is excited for the student life and vibrant community, particularly a club for Black people in computer science. This, she feels, allows for a greater sense of hospitality within the college.

“There is going to be a lot of room for me to find a community, especially within my interests,” Asemota said.

Asemota is thankful for her entire family since as a first-generation college student there came much stress in the college application process, but her family was able to guide her through it all.

“The biggest thing was having support from my whole family to keep me calm as I became stressed, my cousin, all my friends for being there when I was ranting about college essays, thanks to all of them,” Asemota said.

Whatever the future holds for Asemota, CHS is sure that the star pupil will hold her head high through it all!