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Visi Seniors Awarded Four-Year Scholarships to W&L, Brown through QuestBridge Program

Seniors Gabi Bautista and Alina Calix-Martinez were happily surprised and honored to receive the news this month that they had been matched with a college through the QuestBridge program, providing them a full four-year scholarship to two of the nation’s top colleges, covering tuition, housing, food and other expenses. Gabi will attend Washington & Lee University and Alina will attend Brown University.

More than 25,500 students applied for the QuestBridge Match program. Alina and Gabi are two of 2,627 match scholarship recipients, which a QuestBridge press release shared was “the highest number of Match Scholarship Recipients to date for QuestBridge.”

“I didn’t think I would match,” shared Gabi, who feels that Washington & Lee is a good match for her “because of the closeness of the student body, and the location.”

Alina felt similarly, sharing she was “beyond genuinely shocked" to receive the news. 

“It was an unbelievable feeling to experience excitement over the future, relief over my family not having to worry about paying for college, and happiness that everything I worked for had paid off,” said Alina.

She shared the achievement with her mother. “She constantly instilled the value of education in my sister and I. She built my family up on her own, so I felt like this was her achievement too,” said Alina.

Both students thanked their college counselor Beth Konecni for her help. 

“She’s very patient and helpful. I had a lot of questions about the college application process, especially as a first generation college student,” said Gabi.

“The most helpful thing was knowing that I always had someone to go to about a world of college applications that my family knew nothing about. That was a total game changer for both my applications and for my stress levels,” said Alina.

Gabi shared the academics at Visitation have “helped prepare her” for the next step. She plans to study environmental science. “I’m most excited to meet new people and learn more,” she said.

Alina hopes to study philosophy and political science to one day become a political journalist. “The open curriculum is so exciting to me,” said Alina of her college match. “I love so many different classes here [at Visitation] that I can’t wait to dive into an environment that enables me to explore everything I enjoy, from building my argumentative writing skills to learning more about environmental science.”

Alina credits her junior year research paper as helping her strengthen not only her writing skills, but also her time management to complete such a large project. She also feels prepared for the next step: “Now I know how to balance rigorous classes by seeking support.”

In particular, Alina found that support in English department chair Peggy Hamilton ‘85. “She probably read my personal statement at least four times, yet her door was always open to me,” Alina said. “I remember going to her stressed on Match Day, but her reassurance definitely helped. I really don’t think I could’ve done this without the support of all of my teachers.”