Brentwood math savant’s dreams find refuge in Gates Scholarship
Samir Kadariya isn’t intimidated by the hard way because it’s the only one he knows. The Brentwood High School senior was born in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal as his family escaped ethnic cleansing practices in their former country. When he was 5 years old, his family moved to New Jersey at a time when Nepali and Bhutanese communities were far less common in America than they now are and then settled in the South Hills community of Brentwood in 2014.
With his school’s robust refugee population, Samir’s background isn’t what makes him unique there; his academic prowess does, especially in mathematics.
Although his teachers can provide endless examples of his special abilities, nothing puts it as succinctly as when he earned the highly selective Gates Scholarship last month.
Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the award honors 300 outstanding minority students from low-income households from this year’s pool of over 37,000 candidates. It covers the entire cost of the students’ undergraduate education after family contribution as determined by federal educational aid form FAFSA. In an effort to remove all financial barriers, the scholarship also pays for housing and food, offers $2,000 toward a computer and more.
“I’m just really happy that I got it because it removes that financial burden,” Samir said. “During college, I can focus on academics and the social life that goes on around there. It also take a lot of weight off my shoulders that I won’t have a financial burden after I graduate either.”
In Samir’s case, the award will cover the nearly $58,000 per year price tag at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he’ll begin college in the fall with a mathematics major.
But were it not for the opportunity to immigrate or such a generous scholarship, he may not have attended college at all.
Early start
Samir had just started walking when his parents knew there was something extraordinary about their child.
“His first word when he was [a] 1-year-old, he didn’t say mom and dad. We were leaving work one day, and he said, ‘Cold wind blowing,’” his mother, Sabitra Kadariya, said.
And although it seems impossible for him to have known, in Hindi, Samir means “blowing of cold wind.”
After he began his verbal communication with a phrase, his toddler years were filled with unusually advanced questions, as his mother recalls. Trees weren’t just “pretty” or “big.” He asked what makes trees grow and why different trees have differently shaped branches, questions that his family encouraged from their home inside a refugee camp.
“We are here to support and help in each and every stage of his life,” Mrs. Kadariya said. “But Samir has a different, extraordinary brain.”
‘You’re going to get it’
In middle school, Samir saw students in the gifted program attend academic competitions and have extra opportunities. He wanted in but didn’t score high enough on the assessment.
It “bothered” him, even causing him to list it as “something he had to overcome” for a college admission essay. But as he was taught to do from birth, he forged his own path.
“I just realized if I worked harder and put time and effort into things I’m passionate about, I could go to all these competitions and things it felt like I was missing out on,” he said.
Brentwood, classified as a 2A school by the WPIAL, didn’t have enough gifted students to fill those competitions, so gifted program teacher Maureen Anderson includes other highly motivated students, such as Samir.
She connected him with the chair of the math department at Robert Morris University when Samir decided he’d like to be an actuary in seventh grade. When Samir found his homework “not challenging enough,” she assisted him through the logistical hurdles of doubling up on math classes during his freshman year while also testing out of trigonometry and pre-calculus, which he did by teaching himself the material.
All of that occurred while he started his first of four years playing varsity soccer, serving as captain this year, was an active member of the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh, and participated in Brentwood’s F1 in Schools team, which saw state, national and international success.
So, when he applied for the Gates Scholarship, Ms. Anderson just kept repeating, “You’re going to get it. I know you are,” and she was “bawling” when she found out that he had.
“He’s one my favorite kids I’ve ever had,” she said. “He’s probably the most intrinsically motived, driven person — not just student — I’ve ever met in my life.”
For those less fortunate
Samir’s parents were teachers in Nepal but didn’t have professional degrees. Since arriving in Pittsburgh, his father, Puspa, worked as a housekeeper at UPMC Children’s Hospital, and his mother does the same work at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.
Samir has two younger brothers, 5 and 10, who are both “really into geography” and spend hours learning everything they can from YouTube and Google searches. By age 3, the younger one could point out every country on a globe.
Like when Samir was younger, their parents don’t force these habits but simply support them. “We are working hard for our kids,” Mrs. Kadariya said.
Because of the exorbitant cost of higher education, even that hard work would not have been enough to make sure that the oldest of their special sons could attend college. But thanks to Samir’s comfort with challenges and the Gates Scholarship, this family-thatdoesn’twill get to watch its first member progress beyond high school — graduation is June 10 — and attend one of the world’s most respected universities.
“I’ve been really fortunate to have this opportunity that other people in Nepal don’t. I think that’s where my ambition stemmed from,” he said. “It just shows that no matter where you come from, anyone can make it so long as they put in the effort and have a good support structure.
“I hope other people in Nepal can see they can also achieve big things.”