Wilmington, Del.—Three Delaware seniors who participate in TeenSHARP have matched with top universities through a highly-competitive program called Questbridge, which drew 18,500 applicants this year. Only 1,500 Questbridge Finalists across the country were “matched” with a college––meaning the student will attend that prestigious school at no cost to them or their family. The following TeenSHARP students matched last week:
• Guadalupe Castaneda-Hernandez (Newark High School), matched with Princeton University (5.5 percent acceptance rate).
• Hasana Parker (Smyrna High School) matched with Pomona College in California (7.6 percent acceptance rate).
• Lizbeth Cortez-Galindo (Sussex Tech High School) matched with University of Notre Dame in Indiana (17.7 percent acceptance rate).
TeenSHARP had a record year with Questbridge applications this year, with five students being selected as Questbridge Finalists and three selected for the Match Scholarship. “Questbridge is a chance for the most competitive, focused, and committed students to win a life-changing opportunity,” said Tatiana Poladko, co-founder of the college prep nonprofit TeenSHARP.
“Our team is working hard to make sure our students are supported through every phase of the application process during this challenging year. Our Class of 2021 kicked off the admissions season with outstanding news and we are expecting so much more.”
Each year, TeenSHARP works closely with low-income, Black, and Latino students in Delaware, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, to open doors to elite colleges, and to ensure the students will graduate debt-free.
Guadalupe Castaneda-Hernandez wrote in one of her college essays that before she joined TeenSHARP, she was planning to go to community college as she did not think she could afford anything else.
“Joining TeenSHARP, an organization that focuses on helping students get a higher education at a low cost, I learned that what I thought wasn’t attainable, in reality is,” said Guadalupe, who is now bound for the Ivy League.
“Within my family, we believed that we would have to take an impossible loan if I wanted to study at my local university.
However, TeenSHARP was the North star in the pitch dark sky.” TeenSHARP recently won a grant from New Castle County to redouble its college advising services as students across Delaware face remote learning challenges.
The nonprofit aims to reach upward of 1,000 high school students over the next few months through related programming to ensure they have the information and support to get into college. To register online, students and parents can visit: teensharp.org/collegeknowledge
To text in with specific questions, students and parents can message: (302) 581-8114. Support is available Spanish and English.
