12-04-2025
Westfield Senior Accepts Full-Ride Scholarship to Harvard
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – A senior in Westfield has been offered a full ride to Harvard University.
Ali Isan will take his first steps as a student at Harvard University this fall.
'It was honestly a dream come true,' says Isan, a senior at Hampden Charter School of Science in Chicopee.
'The biggest thing I'm excited about is to get to meet new faces and try different things. I also want to explore their research opportunities. They have more labs than students' says Isan.
He is currently enrolled in five AP courses.
On top of that, he serves as the historian for the National Honor Society, senior Council Vice President, a student ambassador/peer mentor to his school, and has dedicated several years to marshall arts.
Like any teenager, he enjoys hanging out with friends and playing video games.
However, when it comes to academics, that's at the top of his list.
'I want to study pre-med. I want to specifically study the intersection between human evolution and evolution of medicine, to maybe see where that may lead up to in the future of medicine' says Isan.
His work ethic and drive have been inspired by his mother, who helped her family immigrate to the U.S. from Baghdad to fulfill their American dream.
'We came when he was two years old and my oldest was 18 years old. I work so hard for them, like specifically as a single mother' says Sahar Ahmed, Ali's mother.
With her single mother strength, she pushed her children to never give up on their dreams.
'I remember when he was in elementary school we practiced multiplication, three times, four times… and now he's wonderful in math,' says Ahmed.
Ali has received all +A across his report cards, with a GPA of 4.51.
His next step… will be preparing for AP testing coming up next month.
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