New Orleans senior: 125 college offers, $9 million in scholarships

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Dennis Barnes, a New Orleans senior, has set a new U.S. record with 125 college offers and over $9 million in scholarships.

When Dennis Barnes sent out college applications in August, his goal was to set the bar high for college admissions. And set the bar high he did.

In fact, Barnes’ 125 college offers – and counting – and over $9 million in scholarships is a Guinness world record.

“I submitted college applications in August, with an eye on raising the bar high for college admissions. Decision letters were an overflow in my mailbox and hundreds of scholarship offers,” Barnes said.

Barnes attends the International High School of New Orleans where he has a staggering 4.98 cumulative grade point average. 

IHSNO said that offers are still coming in from schools, which pushes Barnes closer to his goal of $10 million in scholarship offers by the end of the month.

Barnes has been dual enrolled at Southern University of New Orleans for the past two years while pursuing a dual undergraduate degree in computer science and criminal justice. The high school senior said he plans to announce his college decision on May 2.

New Orleans Teens Shine In Academic Excellence

Barnes is not the only New Orleans teen breaking records and rewriting the history books. Two high school seniors from New Orleans have made major waves in the academic community after solving a mathematical equation involving the Pythagorean Theorem that has stumped mathematicians for the last 2,000 years.

Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson of St. Mary’s Academy found a way to solve the Pythagorean Theorem using trigonometry without circular logic, WWL-TV reported.

If that sounds like mumbo jumbo, then consider this: most high school students learn about the famous theorem, which asserts that A^2+B^2=C^2. Essentially, the age-old rule claims that the sum of the squares of a right triangle’s two shorter sides equals the sum of the square of the hypotenuse.

Yet for the last 2,000 years, the most renowned mathematicians haven’t been able to prove the theory without using the theory itself–until now.

“It’s really an unparalleled feeling, honestly, because there’s just nothing like being able to do something that people don’t think young people can do,” Calcea Johnson said. “A lot of times you see this stuff, you don’t see kids like us doing it.”