Pender Early College High School

Written by Abby Robbins | PECHS School Counselor

BURGAW, NC — Pender Early College High School senior Lubeyda Lopez Lopez has been admitted to Wellesley College and has been awarded a full, four- year QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship.

Upon receiving news of the scholarship, Lubeyda said, “I didn’t think it was real, the email did not seem real. I kept reading the email from QuestBridge and the more I read, the more I realized that I did it! I got into my top school of choice! I was shocked, excited, and then cried happy tears with my mom.”

Lubeyda has earned over 150 volunteer hours during her time at Pender Early College and has been a part of the Student Government Association from ninth to twelfth grade. She is a member of Cape Fear Community College’s Honors Society, Phi Theta Kappa and she started the Latinx Unidos club at Pender Early College. Lubeyda has participated in multiple camps throughout her high school career, including the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership camp, Upward Bound, CAMINOS, and CHANCE.

Academically, Lubeyda has earned straight A’s in both her high school and college courses. When Lubeyda graduates in May, she will not only earn a high school diploma, but also an Associate in Science degree from Cape Fear Community College.

At Wellesley College, Lubeyda hopes to major in mathematics and minor in astronomy. Lubeyda plans to further her education by eventually attending graduate school, and her dream career is to work for NASA. Lubeyda’s accomplishments are impressive.

Over 20,800 students across the country applied for QuestBridge, 6,683 applicants became finalists for the QuestBridge National College Math Scholarship, including Lubeyda! This year, QuestBridge’s 50 college partners matched with 2,242 finalists as Match Scholarship Recipients.