La Jolla High Class of 2021

$40,000 CollegeBoard Opportunity Scholarship Winner

Since she was a little girl, Juliana has loved watching Hoy Dia with her family.  Last year, she watched a segment about scholarships and immediately went to learn more.  The first step seemed easy, just building a college list.  Each task is a chance for an entry into the scholarship and they select winners each month.  If she completes all six steps, she could win $40,000.  She knew it was a long-shot but she went for it anyway.  

In her AP English Literature class, she read books to prepare her essay on why immigrants want to come to America.  It was a powerful topic for her because that is her family’s story.  She enjoys learning people’s stories because it helps show how we are all connected.  Around this time, she was contacted by CollegeBoard to share her own story and her counselor encouraged her to respond.  To her surprise, they wanted to send a crew from Hoy Dia to feature her!  Even bigger surprise - they announced on live TV that she won $40,000!  

Juliana will be attending Point Loma Nazarene University in fall 2021 to study nursing.  Her goal is to be a labor and delivery nurse so that she can support families during one of the most incredible moments of life.  To learn more about Juliana’s story, visit https://pages.collegeboard.org/complete-journey-winners