A friendly sibling rivalry drives Laurel High School graduate Chika Ugboh and her five brothers and sisters.
"Everyone is doing something so I have to do something, and my brother has to follow me behind that," said Ugboh, 18.
Last month Ugboh received the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, a nationwide scholarship for minorities that began in 1999.
The program awards minority students with financial need and who want to study in the fields of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health and the sciences.
Ugboh, who will be attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology majoring in chemical engineering, is among seven Prince George's 2009 Gates recipients and just the second Laurel High recipient in at least the past 6 years.
The award will help pay for Ugboh's studies at M.I.T., which after attending an engineering program there last summer she labeled her "dream school."
"When I got the Gates [scholarship] I knew MIT was where I going to go," she said.
She is the second in her family to receive the award, as her sister, Florence, won the award in 2005 at Parkdale High School in Riverdale.
"Our parents told us to work hard and it was going to pay off," said Florence Ugboh, 21, who recently graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park. "I feel like she's reaching more than I would reach, and that makes me more proud of her."
Ugboh said she wrote eight different essays as part of the application. Florence Ugboh said she reviewed some of her sister's application essays for the scholarship, but said her sister didn't need much coaching.
"Whatever you can give her she excels in," Florence Ugboh said.
Proving her sister's point, Chika Ugboh was captain of the girls soccer team, a Student Government Association senator and National Honor and French Honors societies member. She was also involved with the school's mock trial team and bible study.
While at Parkdale, she won the 2007 county North District and Region III girls' doubles tennis titles.
Outside of school, Ugboh volunteers at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly.
Monique Graves, Ugboh's guidance counselor, said she couldn't be more proud of Ugboh.
"She's very, very driven. I don't know of a student in my career that's been as focused as she has been, but as pleasant to do it with," she said.
Although the county requires students to record 36 hours of community service to graduate, Graves said Ugboh has logged more than 800 hours.
Principal Dwayne Jones said Ugboh has made a name for herself.
"Anybody and everybody she comes into touch with realize she is a genuine lady," he said. "She's accomplished a whole lot in the two years she's been here. You hope all the kids can be as successful."
