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Philadelphia Senior Shanya Robinson-Owens Weighing College Options After Receiving Over 20 Acceptance Letters, More Than $1 Million In Scholarships

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Despite a very challenging end to her high school career, a Philadelphia senior is celebrating after she is accepted to 20 colleges and awarded $1 million in scholarships! CBS3's Natasha Brown introduces us to Shanya Robinson-Owens.

The 17-year-old is a typical senior excited about her upcoming high school graduation. She's even more ecstatic about the more than 20 college acceptance letters she's received since November.

"I applied to like 20-something and I started getting the acceptance letters I think in November," she said.

Shanya has received over $1 million in scholarship money from colleges across the country.

Her reaction?

"I was excited. I was like well, what do I do now?" she said. "Like I do like, it makes like the process a little harder, because you got to be like 'what school am I going to go to?' But it's not based on money, it's based on like the college, what it offers."

The 17-year-old star student attends George Washington Carver High School. Her aunt Christine and their entire family couldn't be more proud of Shanya's achievements.

"Scholarships like in this dollar amount -- we knew that she would do something great because she's always been a great student -- but we just didn't know that it would surpass $1 million, like that's just such a huge accomplishment. So, my whole family, they've been calling every day," Shanya's aunt said. "And they've been stopping by, they've been texting. It's been Instagram, Facebook, it's just been a lot of accolades for her so we're extremely proud of her and she is just shy so she just like 'oh thanks, thank you.'"

Shanya, like all students in the Philadelphia School District, has been learning remotely, balancing virtual classes during the pandemic. She's got advice for fellow students navigating this new normal.

"Studying-wise, it all depends on like the subject. What helps me is like writing it down or like Quizlet, like you put stuff on Quizlet, you can test yourself on the material," she said.

Shanya hasn't decided on which college she will attend she's taking her time. With so many to choose from the sky is the limit for this future college student who wants to major in psychology.

"Helping people, I like helping people a lot. I do it on a daily basis, actually," she said.

Shanya has until May 1 to decide which college she'll be attending.

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