Off to Princeton: 19-year-old wildlife volunteer fulfils childhood goal

When she was just 14, aspiring engineer Arya Ollivierra wrote a list of goals in her diary which included studying at an Ivy League university.

But she always felt the goal was wishful thinking after researching the accomplishments past applicants achieved before they became students.

Some made technological inventions while others did groundbreaking research.

But as Ollivierra, now 19, prepares to become an Ivy League student herself at Princeton University in September, she wants young people to know it’s okay to dream big even if some dreams appear farfetched.

More importantly, she wants them to know that even though focusing on academics is important, it isn’t the end-all to making all dreams a reality.

In a recent interview, Ollivierra told WMN, “The world is moving towards recognising more all-rounded people and it’s not just colleges but also jobs.

“Institutions are starting to be more interested in other things you do outside of academics.

“So I noticed when I was doing my application for colleges, a lot of them weren’t focused on academics but they wanted to know how you helped your community and your leadership skills.”

As a young girl, Ollivierra often listened to her grandfather – a chemical engineer – tell stories about the different projects he worked on. She also read his books and learnt about different engineering concepts.

So from a young age, Ollivierra knew she wanted to do sciences and become an engineer even though she wasn’t quite sure of which kind.

As she spoke at her Champ Fleurs home, Ollivierra listed her academic achievements including a near perfect Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score, an additional scholarship in natural science and all grade ones in her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) exams.

However, as she listed them, she paused and pointed to the El Socorro Centre for Wildlife Conservation volunteer T-shirt she was proudly wearing.

In doing so, she said it was her volunteer work at the centre which made everything possible including her Princeton acceptance.

“If you’re just sitting down and studying all the time, you will go crazy. So you need to have that outlet and it’s good to go out and do things like volunteer.

“Watching shows and reading are relaxing things on their own. But if you’re going out and helping do things, I find it to be a different kind of relaxation where you get more satisfaction…I think it’s really good for mental health because if you’re just doing academics, it isn’t sustainable.”

Since they were young, Ollivierra and her sister Shyla loved learning about wildlife, so their parents signed them up to volunteer at the centre. She has been volunteering since the age of eight.

Her most memorable memories as a volunteer include cleaning pelicans rescued from oil spills and learning soft skills like teamwork, problem solving and public speaking.

However, volunteering at the centre isn’t Ollivierra’s lone volunteering experience.

As a student of St Joseph's Convent, St Joseph, Ollivierra was actively involved in the school’s environmental club where she first served as its vice president from 2016-2017 and then its president from 2017-2018.

During her tenure as president, Ollivierra worked alongside the school’s biology and environmental science teacher Simmika Seecharan-Bissram to create a filtration system for the school’s water supply to help it taste better in hopes of getting students to buy less bottled water.

Using a carbon and sediment filter, the system provided additional purification for the school’s water.

“There was an EMA competition going on and I had this idea for a project where instead of the plastic bottle recycling drives the club usually had, we do something which would reduce the number of plastic bottles the students were using in the first place.

“So we decided to create an ‘enviro filter’ which I thought would reduce the school’s plastic consumption.”

Apart from the filtration system, Ollivierra led recycling drives and special awareness assemblies.

Despite dedicating time and effort to the club, and juggling several other extracurricular activities, Ollivierra placed in the top ten regionally for all the CSEC subjects she pursued including mathematics, English A, biology, chemistry, physics, additional mathematics, Spanish and English B (Literature).

When she created the filtration system, Ollivierra never imagined it would get a merit award at the EMA’s 2018 Green Leaf award or be implemented in other schools.

To Ollivierra’s surprise, the St Lucia-based Franciscan Institute contacted her in August 2021 with funding to implement the system in other schools.

The institute is a ministry of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother dedicated to promoting a culture of peace in several Caribbean countries in St Lucia, Grenada, and TT.

On April 22, the institute organised a virtual meeting between Ollivierra and principals from several schools across TT and the Caribbean to discuss plans to introduce the filter to more schools.

Hardbargain RC Primary School in Williamsville will be the first school outside of St Joseph’s Convent where the filtration system will be constructed. The school’s water problems were a main reason why it was selected.

“I was really excited when they reached out because it (the filter) is something that I’m really proud of.

“When we did the filter, I was thinking it was something we did for Convent, and it would probably end there.

“I am also really happy the filter’s usefulness has been expanded to helping schools with water issues.”

As a sixth form student at Hillview College from 2019-2021, Ollivierra continued volunteering at the El Socorro centre and also juggled several other extracurricular activities.

However, it was no surprise when she yet again got all grade ones in her CAPE subjects including pure mathematics, applied mathematics, chemistry, physics, communication studies, and Caribbean studies.

With those grades, she was able to secure her additional scholarship in natural sciences.

But when she graduated from Hillview in 2021, she wasn’t that anxious to start university right away and decided to take a gap year.

During that time, Hillview chemistry teacher Nigel Phagoo gave her the chance to do a brief stint as an assistant teacher from November 2021 to March as the school’s students prepared for this year’s Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams.

“When he called with the opportunity, I immediately said yes because it was my gap year and I was using it to volunteer, do more extracurriculars and relax from CAPE which was stressful.

“It was really fun, and I got to practise being a teacher, teach some classes and help show students some labs.”

Ollivierra also took time to garden which is something she finds relaxing and has been doing since primary school.

At home, she maintains a garden of carnivorous pitcher plants. These plants, like all carnivorous plants, are adapted to capture and digest insects.

“I’ve been really into carnivorous plants since standard three when I saw there were pitcher plants and sundews in Trinidad…I found it was so cool how plants can eat bugs.

“Even up to today, I do a lot of research about these plants.

“I didn’t think I would be able to get one because I just figured they only sell them abroad, and it’s rare in Trinidad, but I remember the time I went to Trincity Mall, and they had a plant sale where one of the plants happened to be a pitcher plant.”

With the intention of starting university this year, Ollivierra began applying for universities in 2021 and still had the goal of going to an Ivy League.

“I remember looking through my cupboard and in my old diary – when I was around 14 years – I wrote down a bunch of goals and one of them was going to an Ivy League school under academics.

“I remember writing down Harvard, Princeton and others but I would look at it and say it wasn’t going to happen.”

But even with good CSEC and CAPE grades, and near perfect SAT scores (800/800 in math and 780/800 in reading/writing) she admits she was doubtful of her chances.

Nevertheless, she applied for the engineering programmes offered at Princeton, Columbia and Harvard.

She also applied for other US universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Canadian universities including Waterloo University, the University of Toronto, and McGill University in Quebec.

Ollivierra said the universities required her to write an essay about what she was most passionate about, and they also extensively inquired about her volunteering experiences.

She wrote about her experience volunteering at the El Socorro centre and the difference it not only made to her life but the wildlife of TT.

“People think it may be impossible to get into these schools because you need to do a million different things, but it’s really just chose something that you’re genuinely interested in.

“And you shouldn’t do it just to get into college but just to give yourself the chance to explore your passions.

“That’s why it’s important to volunteer, and do other things, because there are several aspects of you as a person.

“Sometimes, especially in Trinidad, there might be an emphasis on academics. But as I got older…I realised if I continued just thinking about academics it wouldn’t have been healthy and I don’t think I would have got where I am today because its not sustainable.”

Starting with McGill University in February, Ollivierra said acceptance from the different universities started pouring in.

In the end, she was accepted to Princeton and Columbia alongside acceptances from McGill, MIT, UCLA, Carnegie Melon, Stanford, and the University of Toronto.

“I had the whole of April to choose which school I wanted to go to, but it was a really hard decision.

“Stanford is a really good engineering school, but it was also expensive because it was in California.

“Princeton is also a really good engineering school, and the biggest benefit was financial aid.

“So we spoke to Princeton and there were opportunities for financial aid, so I chose Princeton.”

While she’s settled on Princeton, Ollivierra admits she isn’t quite settled on whether she’ll like to do mechanical or aerospace engineering.

However, given she got a general acceptance to do engineering at the university, she said there is still time to decide.

She is in the process of doing the necessary paperwork, already dreaming about decorating her dorm room and thinking about what extracurricular activities she will take up there.

She already has eyes on the university’s Tiger Tails clubs which sends out volunteers to local animal shelters.

“I’m looking forward to the new experience because I’ve never lived outside of Trinidad before, so I think it will be a really new and interesting experience.

“I’m interested in meeting people of different backgrounds because Princeton will have people coming in from all over the world and I think it will be very interesting.”

Even though her story may appear seamless, Ollivierra had to navigate difficult family challenges which created emotional distress while doing it all.

But the end, she wants young people to know, “At times I felt like things couldn’t be done but you just need to try.

“One of my biggest problems at first was thinking I couldn’t do it. For a while, especially when I was younger, I thought I shouldn’t even bother applying for these schools because I wouldn’t get in.

“But I still tried, and I did get through. Keep reaching for opportunities because there are different opportunities. You can’t do things if you don’t try.”