Published 11:15 am Saturday, December 7, 2024
By Annie Bresee
It is the time of year when college acceptance letters are sent out and athletic commitments are made. It can be easy for individual achievements to get lost in the shuffle. Two LaGrange High School students, Emerson Mendoza-Recinos and Jasia Swanson, should not be overlooked.
Both seniors are in the IB, International Baccalaureate program at LHS. The students in IB take all their classes together and have the same teachers throughout the last two years. It also employs a more holistic approach to instruction.
The pair will continue their education next year at Duke University. Their tuition, housing, travel expenses and anything else they may need to succeed in college will be paid for, as both students are Questbridge scholars.
QuestBridge gives financial assistance to high-achieving students with low-income backgrounds. As juniors, Mendoza-Recinos and Swanson were a part of the organization’s College Prep Scholars Program, which provides resources and training for students.
“[College Prep] just prepares you to apply for a finalist through senior year… So that’s how I found out about Questbridge,” Mendoza-Recinos said.
The finalist he refers to is a finalist of the College Match Program. Questbridge students apply to the scholarship program, the kids rank their preferred colleges and the few chosen are “matched” to a school. For Mendoza-Recinos, Duke was in his top three schools. For Swanson, it ranked number one.
There were only 2,627 students from across the country that matched to schools, of the over 25,000 that applied. The fact that two of those recipients are Grangers was unlikely, but the fact they both matched with Duke is highly unlikely.
“I learned about Questbridge my freshman year in high school. I learned about it from Tiktok, when I saw other students matching to schools with the full-ride scholarship,” Swanson said. “I was like, ‘How are y’all getting full-ride scholarships to these prestigious colleges just from one program?’.”
Swanson then became involved in the Prep Scholars program and went to Chicago for a seminar to learn more about Questbridge’s mission. She was impressed with the opportunities it gave minority and low-income students.
“A lot of them don’t feel like they could make it there with not only their income but because they don’t have the educational background to go to college,” Swanson said.
“Even when I became a finalist and I hadn’t matched Duke, I was, like, I said, ‘I’m going to do, like, that’s it. There’s no possibility I’m not going to Duke,” Swanson laughed.
She had long wanted to go to the North Carolina school.
“Going to a school that is so prestigious, but also being close, that’s what drew me to Duke, because I also wanted to leave Georgia, to expand my horizon, my horizon,” Swanson said. After doing her research, she found Duke had the Focus Program that serves as a cohort, similar to IB, focused on academic seminars, mentoring, and extracurriculars in a chosen field.
“I just feel like being a part of that would not only allow me to pursue my major but also allow me to get the most knowledge possible,” Swanson said excitedly.
Swanson not only knew where she wanted to go to school, but what she wanted to study; neuroscience. The senior said that past experiences have made her want to learn why people make certain decisions.
“A lot of people struggle with things like schizophrenia and bipolarism and major depressive disorder, and a lot of times when it’s so extreme that even medicine can’t help,” Swanson said. “If they have no other escape and they need help…[I want] to be the person that can allow them to live their lives the way they want to.”
Mendoza-Recinos intends to go into the medical field as well, a decision also informed by his upbringing. He appreciated that Duke shared his value of inclusivity. The IB student hopes to major in biology, inspired by his teacher Dr. [Erin] Calhoun and a desire to go into medicine.
“As a person who is asked to translate for a lot of people, because I speak Spanish,” Mendoza-Recinos began. “It’s just a struggle to see that they’re suffering, and they don’t know how to explain it to someone here…instead of them having to have someone come with them, I want to be the person they can talk to directly.”
When asked what they are most excited for when they get onto campus next fall, Swanson started, “I’m not going to lie, I’m excited for…,” joined by Mendoza-Recinos who said, “The food.”
The two started laughing at their shared priority, talking about how Duke is number one in the nation in terms of dining halls.
Both credit the school’s IB program for helping them find and get the Questbridge scholarship.
“I found out about IB towards the second semester of my sophomore year, but I didn’t join it because I was afraid of it being something different than AP…[But] ever since I joined it, it’s been an eye opener. Honestly, it’s exposed me to so much knowledge that I’ve never thought was possible before. I’m learning things that my sisters in college are learning.”
Mendoza-Recinos was encouraged by counselors and teachers to do IB.
“I was also pushing myself because IB is a very rigorous course…[I wanted to] grow more, both in intelligence and more in my character, and I feel like the IB program really helps you.”
The classmates highlighted the relationships, not just with other cohort members but also with the IB teachers, as being the most meaningful part of the experience.
“I’ve never really had a close relationship with any of my teachers before being in the IB program. I feel like they’re like role models to me. The individuals themselves in the cohort are very intelligent…I’m never embarrassed to give an opinion,” Mendoza-Recinos said. “They’re just really supportive”
Those in the IB program were the first to know that Mendoza-Recinos and Swanson had matched with Duke. Swanson stayed after school to open it with her teacher, Aiden Blackwell.
“I had vowed to open my decision with Blackwell, because, [he] is the teacher that noticed my potential and got me in IB,” Swanson said. “I would say he’s, like, my best friend. If I have any questions, any mentor guidance I need, I go to him.”
She recounted opening the letter to see the congratulations message, and her and Blackwell being so loud her other teachers came in the room. It became a bigger celebration after that.
Mendoza-Recinos still had to drive home from school to see if he had gotten accepted. When he saw Swanson’s message in the IB group chat, he said, “I was so proud of her. I almost cried for her.”
However, it made for an extra long drive home.
“I saw her message and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. I didn’t get in…What are the chances that two people from one school would also get in’,” he said.
The chances were high in Mendoza-Recinos’ case.
“I got so emotional because it’s just nice to see not only the support from everyone around you but also, like everything you’ve worked for reaches to something amazing,” Mendoza-Recinos smiled. The first people he told were his classmates.
Nichelle Wimbush, LHS Assistant Principal and IB Head of Section summed up just how special these students and the program are.
“To see them so successful, it just does our hearts beyond good,” she said. “The amount of impact that these kids have made on this school and this community. They don’t grasp the concept of what they’re doing. They’re opening so many doors that they don’t even understand it. But we do, and we’re grateful.”
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