Indy student shares her journey to the Ivy League
According to the Yale University of Office Research, in 2024 there were a total of 1,554 students with 10 of them from Indiana.
Dieynaba “Jayna” Ndiaye, an alumna of Pike High School and its International Baccalaureate (IB) program, was one such student who said her admission to Yale was the result of hard work and openness to learning. What also helped was her participation in various activities such as softball, Mayor’s Youth Leadership Council, Future Presidents of America, and her own nonprofit organization, Cadeau.
Ndiaye’s achievements stood out to Danielle Vohland, the IB coordinator at Pike High School. The IB program, according to Vohland, strives to help students apply what they learn academically to the real world and to help students develop as well-rounded individuals. Over the years, Vohland has recognized the importance of representation due to encountering a previous student who left the IB program since there were not many people who looked like her.
Roger Hardig, Ndiaye’s former mentor from Future Presidents of America, said that he has learned just as much from students like Ndiaye as they have from him.
“She’s the kind of person that makes you want to be a better person,” Hardig said.
However, in a visit to her alma mater in February 2026, Ndiaye expressed that what she’s doing isn’t special.
“I don’t think I should ever be viewed as the exception,” Ndiaye said. “…and I think we should normalize people like me coming from schools like this and going to schools like this. I think that’s why I work so hard to make it feel like it’s normal because it should be … When you’re the person putting in the work and knowing the sleepless nights and all you’ve gone through, you understand why this is the result for you.”
One student who Ndiaye made an impression on during her February visit to Pike HS was senior Anaiya Delemore.
“The visit made me feel like there was more in reach when it came to college and secondary education for students at Pike,” Delemore said. “I found out that someone from the same school and background as me could take a leap and it could lead to success and even be affordable. Overall, I was able to use it as a source of motivation that encouraged me to work even harder than I already was.”
Born to Senegalese immigrants, Ndiaye credits her upbringing for this mentality as she was raised to believe in Black excellence.
“I’ve always been raised to be a huge believer in Black excellence, whether it’s learning and admiring and reading Malcolm X as a child, or consistently being involved in watching and engaging with Black media,” Ndiaye said about her childhood. “I think it’s very important to understand how amazing our culture and our stories and their successes are to really celebrate that and to want to follow those trends of the great amazing people that have come before us. Because just like any other culture, just like any other race, we’ve had amazing writers, we’ve had (an) amazing president, we’ve had amazing leaders and I think, ‘Why not you? Why can’t you be the next great?’”
Navigating challenges through self-discovery
During her sophomore year at Pike, however, Ndiaye began to struggle with her identity. After moving to classes with predominantly white students, Ndiaye began to change things such as her hair to make those peers feel comfortable around her.
She received negative feedback from her old friends, which she refuted by saying that she hadn’t changed. Still, she lacked self-confidence.
Yet by junior year, Ndiaye began to reverse those changes. She started with changing her mindset regarding what others thought of her.
“My junior year, I learned how to take those perceptions and not care about them whether they are positive or negative and just work on myself,” Ndiaye said.
In addition, Ndiaye began a period of self-reflection and discovery where she discovered her love of learning, which helps her during challenging moments.
“On the cold days, you have to remember why you’re here,” Ndiaye said. “And a lot of that is intellectual curiosity and the pursuit of more knowledge and the pursuit of intelligence.”
This mindset inspired Hardig, who credited Ndiaye with teaching him that there’s always a better way to do things.
Serving others throughout the globe
Ndiaye doesn’t only show the value of learning locally, she shares it globally through her nonprofit, Cadeau, which she started after noticing the lack of school supplies in Senegalese schools.
“I felt like I wasn’t doing anything helpful enough,” Ndiaye said. “Sure, you’re helping with student council, but who’s planning homecoming really helping and affecting?”
Over the past four years, Cadeau has gathered and distributed school supplies to schools in Senegal. The organization includes volunteers from across the U.S and even foreign countries such as Egypt.
Ndiaye also makes an effort to help others along the way through mentoring or giving presentations about her college experience. Vohland hopes that Ndiaye’s community service inspires other students to strive for academic success.
“I think sometimes our society glorifies the athletes, the entertainers so much that we sometimes miss out on those who are achieving in the academic world,” Vohland said. “And so, to see Jayna rise to that level, hopefully now she becomes a shining star for other African American girls as they’re growing up.”
Indianapolis Recorder intern Deidrick Dickerson is a student at Pike High School.
 amazing president, we’ve had amazing leaders and I think, ‘Why not you? Why can't you be the next great?’”){kind=link}