Five Fontana Unified School District high school seniors will receive QuestBridge National College Match scholarships.
They are Vanessa Gutierrez and Fatima Kamara of Fontana High School, who will attend Scripps College and Yale University, respectively; David Aguilar and Marco Garcia of Henry J. Kaiser High School, who will attend Northwestern University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively; and John Nino Requieron of Jurupa Hills High School, who will attend Boston College.
They are among 1,464 U.S. students who matched with one of QuestBridge’s 42 college partners this year, receiving early admission to their matched college or university and four-year scholarships that cover the full cost of attendance, including tuition, room and board, books and supplies and travel expenses.
“Fontana Unified’s class of 2021 is an impressive group of students, with a history of high achievement and service to others,” Randal S. Bassett, Fontana Unified School District superintendent, said in a news release. “These five QuestBridge Scholars are no exception, and we congratulate them on their well-deserved scholarships to some of the nation’s most elite academic institutions.”
Vanessa Gutierrez’s experience in Fontana High School’s certified nursing assistant program has inspired her to pursue a career as a physician assistant. In college, she hopes to join pre-med organizations, do research in biochemistry or psychology and gain work experience in the health-care field, according to the news release.
Fatima Kamara, who is serving as Fontana Unified School District’s 2020-21 Board of Education student representative and volunteers at the Lewis Library and Technology Center, plans to major in political science, become a lawyer and start a nonprofit.
David Aguilar and Marco Garcia are both involved in Kaiser’s extracurricular activities, including competing in Academic Decathlon, serving in the National Honor Society and playing in the Kaiser Catamount Pride Band and Color Guard. Both musicians have been selected to play in the San Bernardino County Basin Honor Band and the John Phillip Sousa Honor Band at Riverside City College, and Aguilar has played in the Tournament of Roses Honor Band.
Aguilar hopes to study political science and become a politician, while Garcia plans to major in biology before attending medical school.
John Nino Requieron plans to study nursing and become a nurse and then a professor of nursing. Requieron competes with the Jurupa Hills High School Academic Decathlon and tennis teams, mentors peers in Link Crew and volunteers at a local hospital. He has also been involved with Key Club, creative writing, National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation.
The QuestBridge National College Match is a college admission and scholarship process through which high-achieving, low-income students can be admitted early with four-year scholarships to QuestBridge college partners.
The five scholarship winners are among 11 Fontana Unified School District seniors who were finalists in this year’s QuestBridge program.
