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The week-long secret is no more.
Jacari Dillard is Ivy League-bound and ready for Harvard University.
“Being able to be prepared for an Ivy League education was the most important thing about me and I feel like I’m ready,” Dillard said.
The Ramsay High senior got his acceptance letter a month ago. He’s going with a full-ride scholarship meaning that $90,000 tuition burden won’t be on him, nor his family.
“I am internally grateful to attend Harvard,” Dillard said.
Dillard is grateful to his late grandmother, too. She died from complications of COVID-19 in 2021. He says her death changed his outlook on life, and she taught him to seize every opportunity.
“She really always pushed me to my greatest heights and being able to live and motivate myself and that is incredibly important to me, and I truly believe
that’s the reason why I’m here today,” Dillard said.
Today, Principal Carolyn Russell-Walker says the valedictorian is a catalyst for Ramsay IB High School students.
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“Jacari is one of those kids that makes me want to do it all over again myself. Harvard is not just getting another student. They’re getting a graduate and someone who’s going to invest back into the school,” Russell-Walker said.
And one day, he’ll invest in his community, too.
“It is my Birmingham community, with that being the reason I will be successful in the Boston community,” Dillard said.
Dillard will be the valedictorian at graduation next month.
He’s the third Ramsay High School student to go to Harvard, and when he gets there, he plans to major in computer science to become a software engineer.
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