An 18-year-old high school student will soon be leaving Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood for Cambridge, Massachusetts.

East Side High School senior Yasmim Barros recently received the news that she has been accepted to Harvard University for a full, four-year scholarship.

Barros first came to the United States from a rural Brazilian village at the age of 11 without knowing English. She says her recent achievement feels “surreal.”

"I called my mom first…and I was like, ‘Mom I got into Harvard.’…It took her a second to understand and then she was like, ‘You're joking,’ and I was like, ‘No,’” Barros says.

She says she plans to study political science for her undergraduate degree and would ideally like to remain at Harvard for law school.