Just like any other Friday afternoon, Paschal senior Marco Arevalo was in Mrs. Olson’s 4th-period class, unaware he would soon be accepted to his dream school, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Students erupted in cheers as he opened his QuestBridge portal, congratulating him on being matched for a full-ride scholarship to one of the best universities in the world. 

“I was in shock. I genuinely didn’t think I was going to get in. I kept rereading the email to make sure,” Marco recalled. 

Soon after receiving the news of his acceptance, Marco immediately called his parents who he says have been his biggest advocates. “My dad started crying, and my mom was in disbelief. They had both been so supportive, and I could hear how happy they were.”

He then went to Paschal’s Go-Center to tell Paschal’s college advisors, who have eagerly tracked his application’s progression to this point. Go-Center aide, Mr. Patterson, described his excitement after hearing that Marco was accepted. “I legitimately screamed out loud. I immediately called Ms. Cannon because she was gone, but we knew he would get his announcement today around 3:00 pm, so we’ve been patiently waiting.”

Mr. Patterson has been working with Marco since his junior year. He has been invested in Marco’s MIT journey since he filed for QuestBridge’s College Prep Scholar Program, through which he was granted access to the National College Match. “I had the privilege of being one of the people involved in helping him do all this QuestBridge stuff. A lot of times, he would be sitting in here doing his application.” 

In mid-October, Marco became a QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship finalist and waited until “Match Day” on December 1st to hear from MIT.

Marco’s acceptance comes after years of dedication to a rigorous course load packed with 14 Advanced Placement classes, qualifying as a National Merit Scholar Finalist, and being involved in many school organizations such as the Robotics Club and National Honor Society. Additionally, Marco bolstered his chance of being one of MIT’s 4% accepted applicants by participating in the university’s highly selective October program for prospective students, WISE 2023. 

“This is one of those moments where Marco gets to see all his hard work pay off, and now he has the opportunity to take his academic career even further in a place he wants to be, and it’s awesome,” said Mr. Patterson.

The first teacher Marco ran to tell was Paschal’s science teacher, Dr. Scheer. Marco has been a student of Scheer’s for the last three years, defining his driven and selfless character in Honors Physics, AP Physics C, and Capstone Engineering. Dr. Scheer noticed early on that Marco had great potential. 

“While being a great student-understanding and picking things up quickly-he works with other students to help them solve their problems even before finishing his own work.” 

Dr. Scheer shared that Marco is the first of his students to get accepted into MIT, something that he attributes to Marco’s academic successes and bright personality. “If anyone would get in, it would be him. He’s one of the strongest students I’ve had and one of the nicest people I’ve met.”