Dec. 14, 2023. At the time, it’s 11 days before Isha Jha’s 17th birthday. It’s also when she got quite the present in advance.
Jha, a Grade 12 student at École St. Patrick High School, found out she got accepted into Harvard University that day. Now, about a month from her summer break, and three months from moving, she discussed how much the news has meant for her.
Although the possibility of studying at Harvard seems like something worth sharing, Jha kept much of it under wraps until everything was confirmed.
“I only told a select few people that I was applying,” she said. In this case, that means about a handful of friends and her parents.
“I didn’t want to jinx it,” she explained.
Her friends apparently weren’t surprised that she was applying, she said.
Jha said she got her offer of admission in December. She found out by checking her email one evening after school. Apparently the email saying she got in came with plenty of confetti.
“My plan is neuroscience,” she said. Compared to the other sciences, she said neuroscience has a modern edge to it that sold her on it.
“I want to be part of that new wave of discovery.”
Jha added she has family in New England, which helped reassure her while applying to Harvard, which is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“It’s good to know that even in a different country I’ll still be supported,” she said, adding that with “a world-class education” available in Canada, she would only leave the country to attend a top university abroad.
With no siblings in the family, the standoff between who cried first came down to Jha and her mother. That went to mom, said Jha, though she followed suit.
“They were very excited, they were over the moon. I think they’re more excited than I am,” Jha said of her parents, laughing.
It’s a big leap sure, but Jha has taken some baby steps already. She’s been on campus before and just came back from what’s called admitted students day, where she got to meet fellow future Harvard students.
Jha also did Harvard summer school. “I basically got to take a jump at university-level classes,” she explained. One of the courses she took was for neuro-science, which solidified her decision on majoring in it.
For the remaining time Jha has left in Yellowknife, her bucket list is pretty short.
“I want to take it easy. I want to enjoy the weather and summer.”
She’s counting the days until graduation, which is June 21. By the sounds of it, she’s ready for the jump. That said, this isn’t a goodbye from home forever.
And it doesn’t sound like she’ll be forgetting about her friends, family and loved ones any time soon either.
“I’m very happy and incredibly grateful that so many people are happy for me. But at the same time, I know that these people are doing extraordinary things with their lives,” she explained. “So I’m like, ‘Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge whatever I’ve done.’”