Sheila Doku

The Top Seniors program is a family affair for the Doku clan.

The 2010 Top Senior runner up, Sheila Doku is the younger sister of former Seniors of the year Stesha (2004) and Sharon (2001) Doku. With older siblings as academic predecessors, Sheila acknowledges the friendly, albeit indirect, competition.
“We all like to challenge ourselves,” said Sheila, who has a 4.69 grade point average and plans to enroll at UNC Chapel Hill in the fall. “They were my role models, so I tried to keep up.”

How does she balance academics and extracurricular activities, such as Future Business Leaders of America, afterschool tutor at the Harris YMCA and Special Olympics?

“Staying up late a lot,” Doku said. “I focus on school work, but I still go out with my friends. You can’t do all academics because it would be pretty boring.”

Doku has already mapped her academic and professional future. Long attracted to the sciences, she plans to study pharmacology at UNC-Chapel Hill with an eye on becoming a licensed pharmacist.
“I got drawn more into chemistry (in high school),” Doku said. “I really enjoy it and never get bored with it. I learn something new every day.”

Doku’s academic pursuits go beyond the sciences, however. A history buff who’s especially interested in the 20th century, she’s used those studies to broaden her horizons to world events. Doku is an international citizen in deed as well as thought, having traveled to her family’s homeland of Ghana as well as Italy and England.

“I’m more internationally aware of the conflicts going on,” she said. “I try to apply that to help other people out.”
Like raising money from Darfur initiatives to help refugees of that genocide-ravaged area of Africa, and working on the Invisible Children campaign that collected more than 2,000 books for Ugandans. Doku’s philanthropy has paid dividends in Charlotte as well, such as participating in the Walk to Defeat ALS, March for Babies and running a toy drive for Levine Children’s Hospital. In all she’s volunteered nearly 300 hours to service activities.

“I have pushed myself to be involved in a variety of service initiatives because I enjoy giving back to my community,” Doku wrote in her Top Seniors essay.

After all, it’s the family way.

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