Megan Njeri, a 2022 graduate of Encinal High School (EHS) and the College of Alameda, has only lived in two places: Nairobi, Kenya and Alameda, California.

Having lived in Alameda since she was four, she now plans to relocate to Palo Alto: at Stanford University to be exact.

Her family immigrated here because they believed, despite rumblings to the contrary, that the United States was the land of opportunity; it was true for the entire Njeri family.

Soon after arriving, her mother graduated from CSU East Bay as a Registered Nurse and Megan was enrolled in what is arguably the best school in Alameda: Franklin Elementary School.

Megan earned her place among the top ten graduates at EHS while simultaneously earning an associate degree in math and economics from the College of Alameda.

When asked what she liked about Encinal, she answered, “I liked my teachers,” but went on to say that “There were times when I was not sure which classes would be available next year.”

“Communication, between the administration, teachers and students, was weak,” she observed.

Because the district did not adhere strictly to the letter of the law when it came to Brown v. Board of Education, she had to commute to College of Alameda for some classes.
As she recalls, “It was frustrating to have to go across town to take Calculus BC.”

The educational opportunities at Alameda High and Encinal High were not always mirror images, as Megan observed, “I thought it strange to make your own students go to another school to get the courses they wanted,” particularly given that “some students don’t have transportation resources to travel across town.”

Megan is a high-energy woman for all seasons; she seizes on opportunity, has grit, and lives life to its fullest.

She played basketball, served with the Red Cross, took first place in Robotics competition, and aced a raft of Advanced Placement courses at Encinal.

Her GPA and high school transcript were so impressive that UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, UC San Diego, Caltech, USC, Cornell, and Stanford all vied for her; Stanford won.

Megan is no academic lightweight; at Stanford she will be playing STEM hardball: majoring in Industrial Engineering and Computer Science.

Megan does not need luck; she soars on intelligence, ambition and an appetite for life.

None the less, as they say in the Navy, “May she have fair winds and following seas.”