The beginning of the calendar year brings the season of college acceptances, internship offers, and our graduating Year 2 students are beginning to make their post-secondary plans. We witness the hard work and dedication of our scholars pay off with exciting educational, professional, and travel opportunities. Each year our students are recognized by prestigious scholarship programs and organizations, opening doors for our students to continue accessing higher education with fewer barriers to entry.  

We are so proud of our scholarship recipients who are successfully representing Bard Early College excellence at the national level. 

Clockwise from top left: Janet Cuatlacuatl, Caleb Onyemara, Genesis Melendez, Alejandra Flores-Rasgado

QuestBridge connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with transformative educational, career, and life opportunities. QuestBridge scholars are awarded a full college scholarship to the colleges and universities they match. 

2025 QuestBridge Scholarship Recipients
Kristina Aquilar, Newark ‘25 – Williams College
Judith Garcia, Newark ’25 – Grinnell College
Genesis Melendez, Cleveland ‘25 – Boston College
Janet Cuatlacuatl, Bronx ‘25 – Princeton University
Alejandra Flores-Rasgado, BECNO ‘25 – Macalester College 
Caleb Onyemara, BECNO ‘25 – Cornell University 

Clockwise from top left: Shirley Contreras, Trenton Vincent, Isabella Juma, Ava Cammarata

The Posse Foundation‘s primary aim is to train the leaders of the 21st century. Posse offers full college scholarships to attend partner institutions, where recipients form a campus cohort with their peers and are supported and trained for success throughout their college years.

2025 Posse Scholarship Recipients
Trenton Vincent, BECNO ‘25 – Case Western Reserve University
Shirley Contreras, Bronx ‘25 – Franklin and Marshall University
Isabella Juma, Queens ‘25 – Vanderbilt University

Not only that…

Ava Cammarata, Queens ’25, has been selected as a 2025 Cameron Impact Scholar by the Bryan Cameron Education Foundation.

Congratulations to the Class of 2025 soon-to-be graduates across the Bard Early College network. We are so proud of what you have accomplished this far, and we look forward to all the good news that is still to come.

Kristina Aquilar and Judith Garcia