Kid Writes #BlackLivesMatter 100x On Stanford Application, Gets Accepted

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18-year-old high school boy, Ziad Ahmed, got accepted to the prestigious Stanford University by writing #BlackLivesMatter 100x on application.

An 18-year-old high school boy from New Jersey named Ziad Ahmed applied and got accepted to California’s prestigious Stanford University by answering #BlackLivesMatter one-hundred times to the question which he was instructed to answer in one-hundred words or less: “What matters to you, and why?”

“When I thought about why, I realized that the insistence on explaining the meaning of the hashtag is inherently problematic and the ‘why’ is embodied in the words themselves,” Ahmed told CBS News in an email Wednesday. “Declaring the humanity and value of black lives is necessitated by the painful reality that the collective humanity is frequently denied when perpetrators of violence enjoy impunity.”

CBS reports:

The 18-year-old said he wanted to write an application that was “authentic,” something that demonstrated his passion to be a part of making a difference, which includes being an ally with the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

“I am many things, but I am an unapologetic progressive activist first and foremost,” he said. “To be an ally, to me, means to listen, to show up, and to constructively contribute. That looks like volunteering for organizations that have been on the ground doing change-making, adding my voice to those who are peacefully protesting, amplifying narratives that are grounded in facts not fear, and naming injustice.”

Ahmed was confident the university would respond to his message — and he was right.

On Saturday, the high schooler announced his Stanford acceptance letter, welcoming him to be among its class of 2021, with a single tweet.

 

“The attention from this tweet emboldens my desire to learn and understand the history of how we have arrived at this moment,” Ahmed said. “I want to find innovative ways to disrupt and create positive change, to be a constructive and respectful ally, and to be better a person.”

Ernest Miranda, senior director of media relations at Stanford, told CBS News school officials can’t discuss students’ applications. However, he added, the school reviews applications “holistically” and no portion of the application is considered without the rest of the application.

“Stanford has numerous long and short question requirements on its supplemental application, in addition to the primary essay in the Common Application,” Miranda explained. “As the student has reported himself, his response regarding #BlackLivesMatter was to one of the short-answer questions on the Stanford-specific application, not an essay.”

But Ahmed made his mark long before submitting his Stanford application.

He founded a non-profit organization called Redefy, which seeks to mobilize young people to confront stereotypes, and was honored last year by Business Insider as one of its “15 young prodigies who are already changing the world.”

Ahmed, who is Muslim, was invited to the 2015 White House Iftar dinner, a celebration during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, where then-President Barack Obama personally thanked him for his activism work.

“Right now, there is a political climate that seeks to divide for political gain that emboldens xenophobic sentiments by propagating false narratives, and it is through actionable steps that we can hope to change that,” Ahmed said.

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