Like many students graduating from Chicago's prestigious Kenwood Academy, Arianna Alexander will be going off to college in the fall. Unlike many of her fellow grads though, Arianna won't be paying a dime for her higher education. As a result of a prodigious session of applying to colleges, as well as her father's inspirational advice to apply for scholarships like they're going out of style, Ms. Alexander was accepted to 26 different universities(including 6 Ivy League schools), as well as receiving more than $3 Million in scholarships. Yeah, you read that right. Three Million Freaking Dollars.
Arianna said that the response from colleges was "...a lot to take in. I received emails, letters. It was just like, 'Come here, come here!' They were bombarding me with all this information." And for good reason too, as Arianna graduated with a 5.1 GPA on a 4.0 scale. After much deliberation, Arianna has decided to go to the University of Pennsylvania in the fall, a choice that she credits in no small part to Paul Brush, one of her teachers. “He said, ‘Do you know about the Wharton School of Business? ‘I said, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’” said Arianna. Mr. Brush had this to say about his influence: "As teachers, we have a big moment to play with the lives that we have in our classrooms."
The scholarship windfall means a lot to her father, who has already put Arianna's three older siblings through college. "When she graduates from Penn...We expect bigger and better things for her," he said. Arianna is already starting to affect those plans, starting to lay the groundwork for the menus of the four restaurants she plans to own as part of her future desire to become an entrepreneur.
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