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At Gary Lighthouse College Prep Campus in Gary, Indiana, the primary mission is to equip students with the skills needed to pursue higher education.
Yet, the school has never encountered a student quite like Araceli Cuevas, who has achieved the remarkable feat of being accepted into 126 colleges and receiving scholarship offers totaling $9 million.
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Cuevas is dedicated to finishing her senior year on a high note. With a perfect 4.0 GPA, she holds the impressive distinction of being second in her class.
“I just wanted to push myself and see how many schools I could get into,” Cuevas explained.
Her strategy involved applying to institutions that utilize CommonApp.org, a platform that simplifies the college application process by allowing students to share their information with multiple schools efficiently.
She also focused on schools with no application fee, or were able to waive the fee.
The scholarship money is also a huge help for her family. She will have to pay very little at whatever school she ends up choosing.
“With having one already in college, having to it’s definitely going to be a big help,” mother Patricia Gonzalez said.
Her teachers and counselors say Araceli serves as an example to many of the other students in this underserved community.
“She could’ve made excuses, but what Araceli did was she was just determined, and did what she needed to do,” lead counsellor Jesenia Ryan said.
Araceli did have to write about 30 essays to go with some of the applications. But she says it was worth it. She says she’s leaning toward schools in the state of Indiana. She plans to study psychology, and has big goals.
She still has a little bit of time before deciding which school she’s ultimately going to choose. Decision day around the country for students is May 1.
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