Noor El Kereamy: A Young Visionary Bridging Science and Art

The story of Noor El Kereamy is one of tremendous ambition and achievement. The recent Stockdale High School graduate seamlessly blends her passions for science, dance, and community service into a story of success that inspires others. Now, this distinguished young woman has her sights set on the prestigious halls of Stanford University.

Born in Canada, El Kereamy spent her early years attending French private schools and traveling with her family to various countries, including Egypt. Moving to Bakersfield at the age of eight was a significant transition, especially as she had to learn to read and write in English and adopt a new culture.

“I felt very foreign to the environment, I had never studied in English,” she said. “When I first moved here, I had really low grades because of adjusting to that new learning environment.”

Despite these initial challenges, El Kereamy excelled academically, becoming a top student at Stockdale High School. She also participated in several clubs on campus including math club, math honor society, science club, French club, French honor society and national honor society.

But she didn’t stop there. El Kereamy joined organizations outside of school, including the Dream Builders and Dimensions Group, which brings several schools together to participate in community service projects, and the Kern Dance Alliance (KDA), of which she is now a board member.

Ballet has been a cornerstone of El Kereamy’s life since she first saw “The Nutcracker” on a school field trip. Starting at Civic Dance Center at age eight, she has performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker” for three consecutive years. Ballet provided her with a sense of belonging when she first moved to Bakersfield, and it continues to be a source of comfort and joy.

“Ballet has always been something that I loved, but it was also the first thing that welcomed me into Bakersfield and allowed me to grow to where I am today,” she said. “Now I’m the one performing and hopefully making that impact on those little kids in the audience.”

One of El Kereamy’s most significant contributions has been founding the nonprofit organization Women In STEM Education (WISE). She and a few classmates spotted a large gender imbalance in one of her science classes and they felt compelled to create opportunities for young women to thrive in STEM fields.

“Girls were called the underdog,” she said. “A lot of us felt like we were limited because we weren’t seen as smart or able to do all the hands-on work.”

Chevron teamed up with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS) to provide funding for STEM outreach and to help support STEM Education programs. KCSOS Chief of Staff Steve Sanders heard about El Kereamy’s work with WISE and knew it was a program worth supporting.

With an initial $10,000 grant from KCSOS and Chevron, the WISE team organized online workshops and webinars, created a range of STEM activities for middle and high school students, connected students with speakers and ambassadors, offered career advice, and fostered a supportive community to encourage more young women to excel in STEM fields. WISE also implemented a scholarship program that has already supported students heading to prestigious universities like Yale and UCLA.

“Noor completed the first year [of WISE] with amazing results,” Sanders said. “I invited her to apply for year two, and we funded $7,000 this year to continue the great work and expand it by bringing in leading STEM professionals from Stanford to support the work of WISE.”

El Kereamy’s accomplishments earned her a spot as a top-eight finalist in the National Distinguished Young Women program after winning local and statewide competitions. As part of her participation, she developed a “Be Your Best Self” project that brought dance and the arts to the Boys and Girls Club, teaching young children about important life values through ballet.

“We read a book together about a ballet dancer, then I got a few dancers from Civic and we performed for them. Then we took them up on stage and gave them a little dance class,” she explained. “It was a really great experience, and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun with it. I had a lot of fun with it.”

Sanders also saw El Kereamy’s potential and nominated her for several awards, most notably the Judi McCarthy Award from the Women & Girls Fund at the Kern Community Foundation, which recognizes young people who make a tremendous difference in their community.

“We have so much talent in Kern County and it’s important to find and honor that talent,” Sanders explains. “It’s also so much fun to promote young women of color who show the world they can do anything and who are committed to improving our community.”

Noor El Kereamy won local and state Distinguished Young Women awards before placing in the top eight at nationals.

El Kereamy credits much of her success to her family’s unwavering support. The journey from Canada to Bakersfield was challenging, but it laid the foundation for her strong work ethic and resilience. Her parents’ sacrifices have driven El Kereamy and her sister to excel in their respective fields, with her sister now studying dentistry at USC.

“The older I get, the more I realize they’re the ones that will forever be with you,” she said. “Having them as my support system throughout everything is just the best thing anyone can ever ask for.”

El Kereamy’s interest in bioengineering is driven by a desire to find cures for hereditary diseases. During high school, she conducted research on valley fever, a prevalent issue in Bakersfield, and worked as a student intern with California State University, Bakersfield’s (CSUB) computer science department. Together, they developed a code to differentiate between lung cancer and valley fever using CT scans, sparking her passion for genetic engineering.

“With genetic engineering, they can basically cure things that are deemed incurable right now,” she explained. “I want to work a lot with that range of genetic engineering, and hopefully work [to cure] hereditary diseases.”

One of the reasons El Kereamy chose Stanford was that it allowed her to combine her twin passions of science and ballet. In addition to her studies and extracurricular activities, she will be joining Stanford’s Cardinal Ballet Company.

“They were the only university that would let me do ballet as I like, and not have to study it as a major or minor. I would be able to just enjoy it,” she said.

Noor El Kereamy’s community service projects include working with the Boys & Girls Club of Kern County.

The Distinguished Young Women program and various other scholarships will help El Kereamy shoulder the financial burden of such an expensive university. She says she is grateful for Stanford’s robust financial aid program, which helps students based on need and accomplishments, as well as the scholarship opportunities she was able to take advantage of. She encourages others to do the same.

“I didn’t want money to be the reason why I couldn’t pursue a dream,” El Kereamy explains. “Just go for it because you never know what’s going to happen.”

El Kereamy dreams of joining a biotech company in Silicon Valley and working in genetic engineering to develop diagnostics and treatments for hereditary diseases. She also intends to stay involved with WISE, using her experiences at Stanford to further support young women in STEM. She hopes to give back to the community that has supported her in some way.

“Kern County has given me so much. I definitely want to give back with what I can,” she said.

As Noor El Kereamy steps into the next chapter of her life at Stanford, she will continue to inspire and uplift those around her, just as she has done in Bakersfield.

“When people talk negatively about ‘kids these days,’ I am reminded of young people like Noor who are smart, driven, and who will represent Kern County on the world stage,” Sanders said.