By Lindsay Newfeld
On May 1, Tempe Prep’s seniors made one of the biggest decisions of their lives: They declared which college they are going to attend in the fall. For some the choice was easy, for some, extremely difficult, but all 48 of them managed to make a choice and enrolled at a variety of schools including the University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Creighton University, UCLA and of course, ASU, NAU, and U of A. The road to National College Decision Day was unique for each senior, but I can safely say that each one ended happily.
Senior Kayla Wight’s story starts at College Day at TPA, way back in October. College Day is a wonderful event put together by Mrs. Moffitt where TPA students can talk to representatives from over 20 different colleges and gather information about schools they would like to apply to. At College Day Kayla learned about the ASU ROTC scholarship and immediately went home and applied for it.
Kayla explains, “After applying for the scholarship, I had an interview at ASU. My interviewer happened to be the commander, who has one additional scholarship of his own to give out to a student of his choice. I was really nervous for the interview, and the commander asked me some difficult questions. But once it got started I felt more at ease and I actually thought it went really well.
“Shortly after the interview, the commander himself called me and told me that he had decided to award me the ASU ROTC Commander’s Scholarship, which covers my tuition for all four years.”
As a requirement for accepting the scholarship, Kayla will have to serve a minimum of four years in the Air Force after graduating from ASU, where she plans to major in Computer Science Engineering. Kayla said, “I would definitely recommend anyone at TPA to apply for this scholarship. I’d also advise upcoming seniors to talk to Mrs. Moffitt and take advantage of College Day, I wouldn’t have known about this scholarship without it.”
On a completely different path from Kayla are seniors Jacob Steineke and Brendan Phelan who will both be pursuing Liberal Arts degrees from Thomas Aquinas College. Jacob says he chose Thomas Aquinas because “the curriculum is a great overview of philosophy, theology, and science. It’s like an enhanced version of the TPA curriculum and all of the classes are discussion-based, which I really enjoy.”
However, Jacob was recently honored in Washington DC for an app he created, so one might wonder why Jacob didn’t choose to attend a tech school. Jacob says, “I think a lot of people in the STEM fields lack a good knowledge of the humanities, so getting that background at TAC could be really useful in the future, even in a tech career.”
Brendan has much more varied interests, including business, exercise science, and psychology. He says he chose TAC mostly because it is an excellent Catholic school. His advice to underclassmen is “definitely re-take the SAT and don’t stress out too much about the application process. I do regret not applying to all of the Ivy League schools, so also apply to all the colleges you want to.”
Senior Rachel Dinh is traveling to Indiana to attend the University of Notre Dame on a full ride scholarship. Aimee Cheng is going across the country to the Ivy League; she will be attending the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Kierstin Thigpen and Olek Piechaczek are going to Cal Poly in San Louis Obispo to study animal science and architectural engineering, respectively.
The class of 2018 celebrated acceptances at over 60 colleges and universities throughout the U.S and over $7 million in scholarship offers. On May 24, they will end this chapter of their lives and begin a new one at some of the nation’s top schools.