Early Life
I was born in Ghana on November 24, 2003. I'm a triplet — my sisters are Nikita and Amrita Marhguy. We grew up between Kumasi and Accra, and for several years our family lived primarily on a parked bus.
At thirteen, I charged phones with a car battery and nails heated in a coal pot — not because I was curious, but because we needed to survive. That same instinct drives how I build today: understand the physics, verify the design, ship something that works on real silicon and in production code.
Before Achimota School, I studied in Kumasi and at Rising Academy in Ablekuma.
Achimota
In March 2021, Achimota School denied me admission because I wear dreadlocks as an expression of my Rastafarian faith. My father, Tereo Marhguy, challenged the decision in Ghana's High Court alongside the family of Oheneba Kwaku Nkrabea, who faced the same refusal.
On May 31, 2021, the Human Rights Division ruled in our favor — finding that denying us education over our hair violated our rights to education, dignity, and religious expression. The case drew national debate and international coverage from outlets including the Associated Press, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle. I enrolled, finished secondary school, and the ruling has since been cited in broader conversations about religious freedom in Ghanaian education.
The full story is documented on Wikipedia and in the court record for Marhguy v. Achimota School.
Academics
- 2023 WASSCE — 8 A1s at Achimota School, reported widely in Ghanaian media including The Voice and Citi Newsroom.
- American Mathematics Olympiad — national top scorer and gold medalist among 150,000+ students worldwide (MyJoyOnline).
- Vanda Science International Olympiad — silver medal, 38,000+ participants.
- SAT — 99th percentile globally.
- 2024 — full scholarship to Penn for Computer Engineering, with additional offers from Duke, Williams, and Franklin & Marshall (3news).
- Now — B.S.E. Computer Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, expected 2028; concurrent master's coursework in Electrical Engineering.
Now - (Fall 2026)
This fall I'm joining Pennovation to research FPGA utilization, building Tomato — a custom 32-bit computer from discrete logic through PCB tapeout — and shipping low-latency networking hardware in SystemVerilog. I've also built an 8-bit discrete-transistor ALU from first principles. Professionally, I'm interning with Vero Electric on battery management infrastructure and working with Aragorn AI on production backends and technical documentation. I taught through Fife-Penn STEM & CS Academy and spent Summer 2026 as an AR/VR instructor with Howard University STEM Achievers. For press coverage and a fuller biography, see my Wikipedia article.Hobbies and Interests
- Beach
- Dogs
- Sudoku
- Biking
Fun Facts
- Triplet — sisters Nikita and Amrita.
- Born in Ghana; grew up between Kumasi and Accra.