Stafford International School’s Humaid Saleem wins full scholarship from Harvard University

Stafford International School (SIS) Head Prefect Humaid Saleem has been offered a full scholarship from Harvard University, a private Ivy League Research University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Being a research university and a non-profit institution, Harvard strives to create educational opportunities for students from varied backgrounds and is one of the most sought-after university destinations for even the brightest of students.

Spanning over four centuries, the university boasts of ten academic faculties and has three main campuses. Humaid’s acceptance to such a prestigious university, brings both honour and pride to SIS.  

Humaid considered himself an introvert when he started his schooling at Stafford, in Year 2. According to him, after joining the Colombo Gavel Club in Year 6, he decided that he had to be a part of the Stafford Debating Society, which in his words, ‘sky-rocketed his life at Stafford’.

He asserts that debating ‘opened up new worlds’, enabling him to express his opinions and views confidently. He confides that this decision made talking to people, something that he looked forward to – forcing him to change from being introverted to extroverted in a span of two years.

His sudden success in debating produced a positive effect on his grades – Humaid developed a great interest in his studies and found himself excelling by winning subject prizes for Computer Science, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English Literature, History, Geography and Commerce at annual award ceremonies.

Humaid attributes most of his personal success to Stafford. “The safe and inclusive environment at SIS makes the school vastly different from others. The relationships I have had at school from support staff to teachers- has made my experience at SIS fruitful,” he said.

Humaid is currently a member of the Sri Lankan National Team for World Schools Debating Championship 2021-2022. He, along with the team, emerged Runners-Up at Hong Kong Schools Debating Championship and he was adjudged ‘Best Speaker’ in the tournament.

Humaid iterated that the school supported and guided him through his journey as a debater. “It was the confidence I gained at Stafford was the only reason I applied for that National Debating in Sri Lanka. Undeniably, the opportunities awarded to me at SIS enabled me to debate for Sri Lanka,” he said convincingly. 

His oratory prowess was not just limited to his debating. In 2021, Humaid functioned as the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council at the Sri Lanka Model United Nations.

All this, according to Humaid, would not have been possible if not for the support and guidance given to him by the school and its staff who ensured that he had the best coaching for debating and gained the extra support he needed for his studies.

Apart from his evident success in the extra-curricular, Humaid is an exceptional student, SIS said. He secured 8A* at the Cambridge International O/Level Examination in 2020 and has continued to perform well at his Advanced Levels. 

“It is no wonder that he was one of the three students who obtained a full scholarship from Harvard University in Sri Lanka,” SIS added. 

Humaid believes that the most endearing quality of SIS is that it ‘never gave up on him’. 

“The Academic Counselling team guided me on what I needed to do, and the school invested in a lot of resources to make my essays near perfect! I am super grateful for this, and I owe a massive part of getting into Harvard to the school,” he said.  Currently, Humaid is undecided about what he wants to do at Harvard. When questioned more on this, Humaid responded by saying: “In an Ivy League university, it is not necessary to decide on your major in the first two years, so I can explore a variety of fields.  In the course of four years, I need 32 course credits to graduate. Twenty of them need to be engineering courses. Even though I don’t know what I want to do, I know roughly it’s going to be STEM. 

“The rest of the remaining twelve courses I can do whatever I want. I am mandated to take two Literature writing classes, and I want to check out Harvard Law – it’s a hyped-up class. I can study a variety of fields, because the point of a Liberal Arts education is to make you a well-rounded individual. Even though I plan on majoring in Engineering at some point, I am leaning towards Mechanical – I will also be exploring a variety of fields. I am incredibly excited about this.”