HS Seniors At Newark Prep School Named As 'QuestBridge Scholars'

NEWARK, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of St. Benedict’s Prep. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Two St. Benedict’s Prep seniors, Kayani Jegatheeswaran ’26 and Sebastian Tenorio ’26, have been named QuestBridge Scholars, the highly competitive scholarship that matches high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with 55 top colleges and universities in the U.S. Jegatheeswaran, a resident of Newark, matched with Smith College in Northampton, Mass., where she plans to study neuroscience and become a psychiatrist. Tenorio, who lives in Kearny, matched with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He will major in business and is preparing for a career in finance.

This is the fifth consecutive year that St. Benedict’s seniors have been awarded full, four-year scholarships through QuestBridge National College Match; 17 Gray Bees have received the scholarship since 2021. “St. Benedict’s instills leadership onto us,” said Tenorio. “It makes us more independent, so we can seek out these amazing opportunities and take ownership of them.” A member of the Boys Prep Division, Tenorio completed college courses in engineering and calculus at the New Jersey Institute of Technology through a dual enrollment program available to St. Benedict’s students. He served as a fellow in the School’s Fr. Mark Payne Institute and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Jegatheeswaran, a member of the Girls Prep Division, has completed the calculus course at NJIT. She earned certification in Basic Life Support from Marist University and helped found the student-run medical response team, The Hive Saves Lives. An active member of the Drama Guild, Jegatheeswaran is setting an example for the growing all-girls division, established in 2020. She wants her St. Benedict’s sisters to recognize, “They can do things that feel impossible. I didn’t think I would ever get this scholarship, and I did.”

More than 25,000 high school seniors applied for the QuestBridge National College Match in 2025. Seven thousand and twenty-six students were selected as finalists; 2,550 seniors ultimately matched with QuestBridge college partners. Established in 1994 as a summer residential program at Stanford University, the scholarship provides a pathway for high-achieving students to attend top colleges, regardless of financial background. Match recipients receive early admission and a scholarship covering the full cost of attendance, including tuition, housing, food, books, supplies and travel expenses.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here.