Lafayette High School graduates who met as freshmen heading to Yale University this fall – Daily Advertiser

Lafayette High School graduates Peyton Sias and Jeff Pham will attend Yale University in the fall. Wednesday, June 17, 2020.(Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network)

Two friends and classmates at Lafayette High will take their friendship to Connecticut this fall as they start their freshman year at Yale University.

Peyton Sias and Jeff Pham, both 18, will head to the Ivy League school in August, as plans stand right now. They expect to know more in July about what the semester will look like as the COVID-19pandemic continues, Sias said.

Sias and Pham met as ninth-graders through Lafayette High's Gifted program,and neitherconsidered Yale very seriously at first.

Sias was thinking about a historically black college or university like Spelman College or Howard University. It wasthe QuestBridgeCollege Match Scholarship that put Yale on her radar.

She almost didn't apply for the program, which providesafull, four-year scholarship, because her top choices weren't among the program's "college partners." But, she said, she thought, "Might as well."

And she matched with Yale, earning a spot and scholarship to the prestigious university on top of several other accolades, such as thethehighly selectiveGates Scholarship.

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Pham began considering Yale more seriously about two years ago, even more so after he visited the campus last summer.

"It felt right when I was on campus, even though that sounds clich," he said. "I really like the sense of community they try to foster."

Lafayette High School graduates Peyton Sias and Jeff Pham will attend Yale University in the fall. Wednesday, June 17, 2020.(Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network)

He also has family living in the area, which would help with any homesickness that might arise. Going there with a friend like Sias helps with that, too.

"It's very comforting to have another friend coming, especially because Peyton and I are very good friends," Pham said.

Thetwo will join fellow LHS Gifted program alum David Stanley at Yale.

Phamplansto study electroengineering and computer science, but also is considering economics.

Lafayette High School graduate Jeff Pham will attend Yale University in the fall. Wednesday, June 17, 2020.(Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network)

He feels prepared for Yale, creditinghis teachers and the extracurricular activities he was involved in at Lafayette High for helpinghim build characters and growas a person.

"They helped me get where I am now," he said.

Sias is looking at a major in political science, with plans to attend law school after undergrad, but another program has caught her eye as well.

"Yale also has a cool major called 'ethics, politics and economics,'" she said. "I think it would open up a lot of doors."

Students must apply to get in to that program for their second year, so she will wait and see.

Like most seniors, she's gotten used to applications this year, submitting essays and packets to colleges and scholarship organizations.

The Gates scholarship process was one of the longer ones, requiring four essays. Thankfully, most of the topics were similar to ones she'd written for other organizations, so she didn't have to start from scratch.

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Her favorite was the one that asked about overcoming challenges, "because it was more personal."

She wrote about how she has overcome internalizing anti-blackness. Since first grade she'd been one of the few Blackstudents in her Gifted class, sometimes the only one.

"It impacted how I viewed myself," Sias said. "It did a number on my self-esteem."

Over time she realized her mom was a role model in this, and she looked to herfor strength and inspiration.

"I get a lot of inspiration from her (my mom)," Sias said. "She carries herself with grace and strength. I looked at her and thought, 'Why don't I?'"

Lafayette High School graduate Peyton Sias will attend Yale University in the fall. Wednesday, June 17, 2020.(Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/USA TODAY Network)

Sias also took time to research Black empowerment and learnmore about what it means to be Black in America.

"I found myself acting more myself and being a more authentic version of myself," Sias said.

Earning the Gates award and financial aid from Yale and QuestBridge will allowher to go to college without student loans, something she is especially happy about with plans for law school in her future.

"Law school is expensive," she said.

Her mother, Tanya Sias, is proud of her daughter and relieved to know she won't have to incur any student loan debt now.

"Her getting in to Yale and receiving what she did, it blew my mind," Tanya Sias said. "It was a tremendous relief. I told her, 'The costs compared to when I went to college are just astronomical now.'"

Sias wantsto be a civil rights attorney one day, perhaps with the ACLU.

"I see all the problems going on in our country, including in our law system, and I want to try to fight that from within the system to fight for all marginalized people," she said.

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Lafayette High School graduates who met as freshmen heading to Yale University this fall - Daily Advertiser