Three outstanding seniors from Canutillo High School on Friday got the news they had anxiously been waiting on for weeks: The prestigious QuestBridge program had matched them with a university and a free four-year full-ride scholarship to earn their college degree.
Seniors Christian Choi, Benjamin Lerma and Angel Rodriguez are among of the selective 1,700 students from throughout the United States that received a match and a scholarship on Friday. A total of 12,000 finalists — including a total of seven Canutillo Independent School District students — were identified by QuestBridge earlier this fall.
“We are in tears over here … overjoyed by the news,” Canutillo High School Principal Candice Marrufo said. “These students have worked so hard for four years and they’re seeing the fruit of their labor pay off. We are beyond proud.”
As QuestBridge scholars, Choi, Lerma and Rodriguez will have their full tuition, room and board, books, materials and even travel to and from university paid in full for the next four years. The scholarship means their families will save at least $236,000 in tuition.
Choi was matched with Washington University in St. Louis and plans to study either psychology or business. Lerma was matched with Emory University in Atlanta and plans to major in biomedical engineering. Rodriguez was matched with Boston University and plans to major in biochemistry.
The three worked closely with Canutillo High School College Readiness Instructor Gabriel Canchola to prepare for this and other scholarship programs. Canchola said that while this is the first year Canutillo High has had QuestBridge scholars, he does not expect it to be the last.
“Christian, Benjamin and Angel have set the standard and we know that we can reach this level of accomplishment and more,” he said. “This is only the first steps in our efforts to provide unparalleled opportunities for our students.”
The three scholars will now join the QuestBridge Scholars Network, which provides ongoing support and resources to students who were matched. QuestBridge also provides enriching programs for their alumni, including the opportunity to apply for full-tuition scholarships to top business schools through the Graduate School Match program.
Four other students in Canutillo ISD were named finalists for QuestBridge but did not receive a match on Friday. As finalists, there is still a chance they could receive scholarship funding to their preferred university through several round of applications organized by QuestBridge through the spring.