Gates Millennium Scholar Discovers ‘Passion’ In High School

Chima Ahararwa,18, is a Gates Millennium scholar recipient heading off to Northwestern University this fall to pursue both a Computer Engineering and music degree.

The Lindblom senior is receiving a full-ride scholarship.

“High school helped me to find out what I was passionate about,” he said. “I grew a love for both music and technology during my years at Lindblom, and I guarantee I would not have discovered that anywhere else.”

Getting involved in pep band and taking Lindblom’s Computer Repair Colloquium class, where he was responsible for maintaining and fixing computers around the school, is what ignited his interest, he says.

He also had a summer internship called TechCrew, where he and his classmates were recruited and paid to continue their previous colloquium class duties.

Although he’s not the first in his family to go to college, Chima said that the scholarship is a huge help because his mother is already helping his brother who’s in college.

“The Gates Scholarship has really helped me to be able to afford [college] and I’m really grateful,” Chima said.

He’s already thinking about post-college and coming up with ideas.

“I want to be the next big innovator,” he said. “I want to come up with the next big invention that will help revolutionize technology. I plan to do this by first understanding how technology works before I try and apply new ideas to what I know.”

Chima said his experience at Lindblom has helped him develop and sharpen his leadership skills.

Last year, the pep band started with about five students. When the former band leader graduated, there were shoes to fill. Chima said he volunteered to step up. The band has grown to 17 members, majority of the players starting at the intermediate level.

“That was difficult for us because we were playing music that was both advanced and rhythmically difficult,” Chima said. “I dedicated a lot of time to tutoring each student.”

By the second semester, Chima said his band director pulled him aside to let him know the progress in performance he saw with the intermediate students.

“They were outperforming their classmates and learning songs a lot faster” Chima said. “I’m really proud of them because not only did we reform the reputation of Pep Band, but we practically tripled in size from last year.”

“Music has become a great hobby of mine ever since freshman year, so I want to continue with it in college,” he said.

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