Judging by the screams of Charles H. Flowers High School teacher Cheryl Blake, an outsider would have thought she had won the Gates Millenium Scholarship instead of senior Tolulope Adetayo, the student said.

Adetayo, 16, of Forestville remembers that April day when she told Blake she won the scholarship that guarantees a full ride through college and graduate school, and witnessed Blake, who assisted her with the application, run down the hallway to tell as many teachers as possible.

Tolu right now as a senior is made up of lots of different people, Blake said. Im just one that helped her out with this.

Adetayo, a member of Flowers four-year science and technology program, will attend Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., this fall at no cost thanks to the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which awards scholarships to high achieving minority students to attend school through a doctoral degree through the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, according to the scholarship website. An education at Princeton would have cost $216,000 for a total of four years, Adetayo said.

Adetayo, who aspires to be a neurosurgeon, said she likes to help people, and she said she felt the best way to give back to her community is to become a doctor.

The brain fascinates me, Adetayo said. I always saw the brain as the [Central Processing Unit] of the body.

Science was not the only thing that ruled Adetayos world. Adetayo was a member of the schools mock trial team, serving as an attorney this year but in any role needed if there was a vacancy such as a witness, said Blake, a mock trial adviser. Adetayo was also member of the schools Community Day Club, which did year-round service projects such as planting flowers on school grounds and visiting soup kitchens in Washington, D.C.

Adetayo said joining mock trial was a way to break through her shyness as an underclassman.

I discovered a part of me that I never knew I had, Adetayo said. I want to continue mock trial in college. Even though I want to be a doctor, I have a common interest in law.

Adetayos advice to students is to be nice to the teachers and counselors at school because theyre always willing to help you. Her relationships paid off when Adetayo realized she needed a 16-page portion of her Gates Millenium Scholarship application filled out by a teacher who could highlight her school accomplishments turned around in one day. She asked Blake if she could help, and for Blake, who has advised her in Mock Trial and the Community Day Club, it wasnt hard to fill the pages when it came to Adetayo.

If you like your teacher and they like you, thats a huge difference, Adetayo said.

Nicholas Acha, a Flowers mathematics teacher, taught Adetayo for three years and helped her with Calculus homework. Acha said Adetayo is an honest student who is not afraid to ask for help if she doesnt understand a concept

She doesnt just want to get the A, Acha said. She really wants to understand what it is about were doing. And shell respectfully do that. She will respectfully continue to pose her questions, ask for help.

Acha said he is impressed that she continues to show her gratitude for her teachers for their instruction and that she will contribute to society and humanity in whatever she does. In addition to wanting to become a neurosurgeon Adetayo said she wants to research new treatments for HIV and AIDS because she knows its an epidemic in certain African countries.

I would not be surprised that she discovers the cure for something tomorrow, Acha said.

nmcgill@gazette.net