This year, two Guilford seniors received the prestigious QuestBridge scholarship. This scholarship covers all college expenses. The students, Anju Griffeth and Caleb Bondzi, are going to Stanford and Boston College, respectively. 

   “One of the main things that attracted me to Boston College is their commitment to educating the whole person and being well rounded,” said Bondzi. “A lot of schools say that, but Boston actually has the programming in place to do it.”

   The application process started in the summer of 2021. It consisted of two essays of varying length, multiple short answer questions, and regular application questions about financial aid, extracurriculars, and the classes taken in high school. In October 2021, six thousand finalists were chosen. At that point, applicants put together a list of their top twelve colleges. 

   “I didn’t necessarily choose Stanford,” said Griffeth. “I had the option to rank up to twelve schools in the order of my preference (I chose ten), but I decided to rank it because it has always been my dream school. It is pretty much one of the best universities in the whole world and it is a very good school for medicine, which is what I want to pursue.”

   After becoming finalists, there were even more essays and questions to answer before possibly being accepted.

   “The application process was pretty draining and a lot of work but definitely worth it,” said Griffeth.

   The colleges then had the opportunity to choose which students they wanted to give the scholarship to.

   “You don’t choose who to get the scholarship from, the school chooses you,” said Bondzi. “Boston College was on my list of schools, and they chose to give the scholarship to me.”

   Not only does the scholarship pay for the fees, room and board, and textbooks, but it can even help pay for travel fees. In addition to that, the QuestBridge network helps to provide other support and career development opportunities.

   “I’m not the only person who got a QuestBridge scholarship to go to Boston College, so there’s a whole chapter of other people who received the QuestBridge scholarship,” said Bondzi. “I’ll get on to this campus with nine thousand people, but I’ll already have a community of other people who have had similar situations and have gotten that scholarship.”

   Bondzi plans on double majoring in Political Science and Computer Science, and Griffeth wants to study Biology on a Pre-Med track. Both have participated in soccer and are a part of the National Honors Society. 

   “The QuestBridge scholarship is open to any rising senior, it opens the summer before your senior year,” said Bondzi. “I honestly encourage any senior who’s struggling to find a way to pay for college, which is just about everyone, to apply for it and just see what happens.”