Sibomanna Less than six years after immigrating to the United States from Rwanda without the ability to read, write or speak English, St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute senior Jean Jacques Sibomanna — known as J.J. — is officially an Ivy Leaguer.

Sibomanna boarded a flight last month for a three-day orientation session at Brown University, embarking on the latest leg of the 17-year-old’s incredible journey, which has taken him from his native Rwanda to Zaire to Africa’s Ivory Coast, before landing in Buffalo in December 2004.

Sibomanna plans to study engineering at Brown, which he selected over Syracuse and Carnegie-Mellon universities, the University of Delaware and several other schools.

Born in Byumba, Rwanda, to Jean Baptiste and Berthilde Sibomanna not long after the notorious genocide that left 800,000 Rwandans dead, Jean Jacques Sibomanna and his family soon moved to Zaire where they lived for three years to escape their home country’s political unrest.

When Jean Baptiste Sibomanna became employed as a veterinarian on Africa’s Ivory Coast, the family was once again on the move. Finally, when an opportunity became available through Catholic Charities, the Sibomannas made their way to the United States, ultimately establishing residency in the City of Buffalo.

Understanding the importance of education, the Sibomannas began the application process for Jean Jacques to enroll at Buffalo Prep, a program headquartered at the University at Buffalo with a mission to help bright, economically disadvantaged minority students prepare for and excel in demanding high schools.

Although Sibomanna, who speaks French and Rwandan, was English illiterate, the preparatory school opted to take a chance on him, one that program administrators certainly do not regret.

“When Jean Jacques applied for the program, his essays were virtually unreadable due to his lack of command of the English language,” said David Kash, the director of counseling services at St. Joe’s who has volunteered at Buffalo Prep since 1989. “Ye t there was a work ethic and an intrinsic will to succeed that was readily apparent in him and that was enough to convince the admissions committee to give Jean Jacques a shot.”

Under the advisement of the instructors at Buffalo Prep, Sibomanna began integrating himself into American culture and worked diligently to improve his English skills.

Marcus Deveso, another St. Joe’s faculty member who teaches at Buffalo Prep, would often require Sibomanna to watch U.S. television as a homework assignment, in hopes that exposing Sibomanna to as much American dialect as possible would expedite his assimilation. Within a few years, Sibomanna had enough of a handle on the language to translate his keen intellect onto paper, allowing him to gain admission to St. Joe’s in 2007.

Once at St. Joe’s, Sibomanna immersed himself in the school’s vast array of extracurricular activities his freshman year, playing football and joining the French, chess and computer cubs. He has also run cross-country, was elected to the National Honor Society as a junior — becoming the group’s treasurer this year — and is a senior representative on the school’s Student Council.

“Beginning with his freshman year, it was very clear that Jean Jacques wanted to take full advantage of all that St. Joe’s had to offer,”saidSt.Joe’sPresid ent/ Principal Robert T. Scott. “Drawing upon his prior experiences, he had a firsthand knowledge of just how important it is to capitalize on those opportunities when they are presented, and he has done so at St. Joe’s with outstanding results.”

Despite carrying a 94.91 percent average, earning credits in four advancement placement courses and receiving word that he had been accepted at Brown, Sibomanna is by no means the only shining star amongst his 2010 St. Joe’s classmates — some of whom have been granted admission to colleges such as Princeton, Harvard, Georgetown and Cornell — and that’s exactly the way the always courteous, understated J.J. prefers it.

“I never felt like the environment at St. Joe’s was overly competitive in a negative sense; in fact, I think that ‘cooperative’ would be a better way to explain it,” he said. “Every student at St. Joe’s is challenging himself to do great things, get into great colleges, and I found that when I was struggling, my classmates — and teachers — were more than willing to take the time to help me. For that, I’ll always be grateful.”

The Sibomanna family, which also includes 10-year-old Marie-Gloria, a student at Our Lady of Black Rock School, and Fiacre, 18, a freshman at St. Bonaventure University, resides in Buffalo.