The application is due at midnight. Don’t forget to file your FASFA. These are the steps that high school seniors take towards their future. And one specific high school senior went above and beyond when taking her step.  In this case, one giant leap into Brown Unversity.

Olena Mursalova, a senior at South Broward High School, applied for the National College Match Scholarship through a Quest Bridge application and was accepted.

According to the QuestBridge website, in 2019 there were 14,926 applications and only 5,842 selected. This year three of the thousands are students from South Broward High School. Mursalova will be going to the leading research university in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown University. And while she was very nervous at first, she became confident through her family’s support.

“Using your resources is really important,” said Mursalova.

Mursalova is the first person in her family to go to college. Making her ultimately unable to be guided by her family due to their lack of knowledge but this didn’t stop her. With the involvement of her friends, she found advice on what it takes to go to college.

“There might be some students that are willing to talk to someone about how to go to university [and] what to do for a scholarship,” said the QuestBridge scholarship recipient.

Mursalova says other students in her situation can reach out to friends for advice and guidance that your parents may not know about.

“You will need to have confidence and encouragement from your love ones or friends about college,” said Mursalova.

Mursalova will be touring her new school this coming September and plans on studying computer science.