Two Tomcats earn QuestBridge ScholarshipTwo Tomcats earn QuestBridge Scholarship

Seniors Sihguat Torres and Monica Ruiz earned QuestBridge Scholarships to Stanford and Dartmouth.

Tomcat seniors Monica Ruiz and Sihguat Torres recently received very good news.  They had been “Matched”!  Monica and Sihguat were two of 15,606 students nation-wide who applied for the QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship.  Since 2003, QuestBridge has been linking high-achieving, low-income students to 39 of America’s top colleges and universities.  Ruiz and Torres were among the 918 students this year who earned full-ride scholarships through this program.  Ruiz will be attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire while Torres will be heading to Stanford in California.  “I never thought about going to Stanford until people like Fabian and Adrian started talking about it,” said Torres.  Fabian Badillo’15 and Adrian Gozalez’17 are both East Aurora alumni and Stanford undergraduates who have come back to talk students about QuestBridge and applying to highly selective colleges.  When asked if she had any advice for future students, Monica Ruiz said, “Help is out there.  Even if you doubt yourself, it doesn’t hurt to try.  There are resources out there.  Just look and stay committed.”   

Torres is now the fourth Tomcat in as many years to enroll in Stanford joining Badillo, Gonzalez and 2016 valedictorian Erik Strand.  Senior Sebastian Chiu has also been admitted to Stanford and is expected to enroll next Fall.