'Extremely hard workers.' Pair of Westhill HS scholars accepted into MIT
Seniors Katelin Zhao and Sahil Salihnur say they'll both attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology starting this fall.
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Thursday was college decision day across the country, and a pair of Westhill High School scholars are making school history.
Seniors Katelin Zhao and Sahil Salihnur say they'll both attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology starting this fall.
“If you put your mind to it," Zhao says. "You can do anything you want."
While they aren't the first Westhill students to be accepted into MIT, the school says it's the first time two of its students from the same class have been accepted there.
“It feels like my hard work actually paid off," Salihnur says with a smile. "Some people take me more seriously now."
MIT’s acceptance rate is below 5%.
“If you’re going to MIT, there has to be a certain amount of natural intelligence and these students certainly have that," computer science teacher Chandan Sarkar says. "But they also are extremely hard workers."
Salihnur plans to study mechanical engineering, while Zhao plans to study electrical engineering and computer science.
“It’s so easy to copy what somebody else does, or take the easy way out and not try," math department chair Michael Capriotti says. "But they do everything from the bottom up, and they build it all the way to the top. That’s why they’re going to MIT."
