4 Newark Teens Earn Full Rides To Prestigious Colleges

NEWARK, NJ — Boston College. Columbia University. Bowdoin College. These are the prestigious schools that four teens in Newark recently earned their way into – with a full scholarship, to boot.

St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark recently announced that four of its seniors earned early admission and a four-year scholarship to some of the top colleges in the country through the QuestBridge National College Match.

The students are: Pedro Cena ’23 (Boston College), Carl Olivier Estime ’23 (Columbia University), Guitze Rodriguez ’23 (Bowdoin College), and Marcilio Soares ’23 (Boston College).

According to St. Benedict’s Prep:

“The highly competitive program, which offers high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds entrance to some of the most selective colleges and universities in the country, began with a pool of more than 17,900 applicants. In October, 5,613 seniors, including Cena, Estime, Rodriguez, Soares and Valeria Hurtado ’23, were named QuestBridge National College Match Finalists. Ultimately, 1,755 high school seniors learned they matched with one of the 48 QuestBridge partner schools on December 1.”

“It’s extraordinary to have four QuestBridge Match Scholars from one school, two years in a row,” said Susanne Mueller, Dean of College Placement.

“Especially since the program keeps drawing more and more applicants and grows more competitive each year,” Mueller said. “We are really proud of our students and thankful to everyone at St. Benedict’s who accompanied them to this point.”

This is the second consecutive year that a group of four St. Benedict’s seniors achieved the prestigious feat and matched with a college through the program, school administrators noted. Read More: Newark Teens Earn Full Scholarships To 4 Top Universities

QuestBridge scholars from the St. Benedict’s Class of 2022 are currently studying at Yale University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania and Emory University.

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