BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Going to college is something Freedom High School senior Jerry Rivera has always dreamed about.
"I've been planning on going to college since I was very young, but that I probably wouldn't be able to afford it. And it was just very hard navigating that and wondering what my future would hold," he says.
Rivera no longer wonders. He knows he going to Princeton University next year on a full scholarship.
Rivera is the first in his family to attend college. It's all thanks to QuestBridge, a national program that connects high-achieving seniors from low-income backgrounds with full four-year scholarships.
The process isn't easy, Rivera says.
"The first round was quite intense, like they said over at least from what the organization has released 18,000 applicants in the first round."
He says it then cut down to 5,000 for the second round, and then narrowed from there. Rivera says he was in school when he got the news.
"I was filled with a lot of disbelief and surprise," he says.
On Tuesday, the Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent, Bethlehem's mayor, family and teachers Rivera felt made a difference in his life shared his success with the community, holding a ceremony in his honor.
He's currently enrolled in the Academy for Applied Engineering program at the Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School and says he hopes to study electrical engineering. But, that's not all he plans to do.
Rivera says, "At Princeton I don't just want to study, I want to make the most of what I can, meet new people, but also in general try a lot of new things."
