Sharing her considerable talent with the islands

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

Twenty-year-old Jennifer Balakrishnan took the SAT four times—not because she did not pass during her first three tries but because she wanted to obtain a perfect score. As a matter of fact, she got a score of 1,530 the first time she sat for the test—a score already considered high for a first take.

“I wanted to get a perfect score. I needed to be competitive to get into these top universities,” she explained. “Especially coming from Guam, I had no idea of what I needed to do, like improve my verbal score a little bit. I got a perfect score in Math.” She thought if she could increase her verbal score a little bit, then she would get a perfect total score.

That speaks of the stratospheric standards this Guam lass has set for herself—a fact not lost on the different top universities in the U.S. mainland that tried to elbow each other out to get her. She got offers with full-time scholarships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Duke University and Princeton University. In the end, she chose Harvard University, where she is now a junior Mathematics student.

When asked why she chose Harvard, she said that ever since she was a child, she had always heard of Harvard and its reputation as one of the top universities in the world. “That’s the one thing you’d always hear when you were little. It’s always been my dream to go to Harvard.”

This dream has come to a splendid realization and, with it, the great opportunities that studying at the Ivy League school offers. “Harvard probably has one of the best Math program in the country, if not the world,” she added.

Although the university was at first a totally new environment for her, she said she has learned to adjust and has already made several friends. “It’s been great. The environment is very challenging. It’s a very great place to study,” Jennifer mused.

She laughingly complained, though, of Boston’s freezing winters, having grown up in a tropical environment. “It’s very cold. The weather is terrible,” she said. “Every time I come back for Christmas, wow, this [Guam] is paradise!”

Although she could not consider this holiday a complete vacation because there are exams due in January, the two-week vacation is enough for her to enjoy the sun and the holiday with her family. “We don’t actually have a good Christmas break,” she quipped.

Despite such a short break from her studies, Jennifer still managed to squeeze in two days to fly to Saipan and share her knowledge and tips on taking the SAT with students in the CNMI.

She said that when Guam Sen. Carmen Fernandez invited her to speak in front of CNMI students, she grabbed the chance as a way for her to share of herself with the local community. “We did this in Guam this summer,” she said.

She said that Fernandez felt that, in order to improve the test scores of local students, something has to be done to enable these aspiring kids the chance to enter the best schools or universities they deserve.

“People on the mainland have advantages because of the trainings offered that will help them advance,” Jennifer said, “whereas on the islands opportunities are scarce.”

Fernandez, together with local student Roselle Calvo, the CNMI Youth Congress and Saipan government agencies made it possible to bring Jennifer over to Saipan to conduct the 1st SAT Preparatory Program seminar held last Dec. 27 and 28, 2004. During the seminar, she provided high school students some basic tips and reminders when they take the SAT exam in March 2005.

Jennifer considers her short stint on Saipan worthwhile. “Saipan is very beautiful. From my hotel window the beach is very pretty, the ocean is clear, I could say that this is prettier than Guam,” she laughed. “It’s smaller, it’s quiet and seems peaceful.”

Jennifer was born in Hawaii. Her parents moved to Guam for work when she was one year old. Her father is currently a Chemistry professor at the University of Guam, while her mom is a full-time homemaker. Jennifer has a sister named Stephanie, who is 11.