1 decision makes big difference for Quincy senior

QUINCY — High school juniors get a lot of mail from colleges, and Sebastian Gomez, Quincy class of 2017, was no exception. Among the letters and postcards was one from a program he’d never heard of, and he was tempted to toss it.

“I did think it was phony,” he said, one of those things that sounded too good to be true. But he didn’t toss it, and that turned out to be a very good thing. With the help of the Questbridge program, Sebastian will attend Northwestern University next fall. He plans to major in engineering.

And the best part is that it’s almost paid for, and Sebastian has a job for the summer to help pay the rest. That’s important, because one of Sebastian’s goals is to make his education as easy as possible for his mom.

Sebastian’s family followed his dad’s job until his parents split, when he was in second grade. Sebastian, his mom and brothers and sister moved back to Quincy. It was – and in some ways it still is – a struggle for his mom, he said, and that’s why it’s important to him to make sure his mom doesn’t get stuck with the bill for his education.

He took summer jobs to help, and was working to figure out how to pay for his education when he got the fateful postcard. He checked out the Questbridge program, saw it was for real and applied.

The program helps kids from low-income families apply to colleges that otherwise might not be on their radar, and pays most of the cost once they’re accepted. The Questbridge advisors don’t pull any punches – part of the program is evaluating where students have the best chance of being accepted.

Sebastian applied to Ivy League schools, among others, although his advisor wasn’t sure the Ivies were the best fit. He wanted a challenge, he said, and part of that was leaving home, not just Quincy but Washington. “I was always determined to get out of state.”

A lot of schools did say no. The admission office at Yale said maybe, wait and see. But the University of Washington, NYU and University of Southern California all said yes.

So did Northwestern, a private school in the suburbs of Chicago. For Sebastian, it had the best engineering program and was the cheapest. Questbridge will help with the bill – of the $73,000 in expenses, Questbridge will pay $71,000.

“My mom doesn’t have to pay for any either,” Sebastian said. He’s got a summer job to help pay his share, and for his plane tickets. His goal is to support himself, so his mom doesn’t have to, he said.

He expects it to be a big challenge. “Trial by fire.” He visited New York City and Chicago as part of the Questbridge project, and he met kids from very different backgrounds than Quincy. “It’s going to be a shock when I get over there. Especially the disconnect. I’m not going to know anybody there.”

He’s looking forward to learning how to put theories into practice. He’s interested in using engineering to improve the environment, he said, and seeing what innovation can do.

The lesson from his experience, he said, is that “nothing is too unreal.” No matter where a kid starts, it’s possible to go where they want to go and do what they want to do.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.