Nerves prompted Michelle Montenegro, a member of the Class of 2022 at Classical High School and a member of Onward’s Honorific Program, to apply to 15 colleges and universities.

“For the most part it was just me being nervous about getting in or not because I didn’t feel really confident because I wasn’t sure if I did enough to get into good colleges and then, yeah, I just panicked,” she said, laughing.

She was accepted to 12 and waitlisted at one; clearly, she needn’t have worried she had what it takes. Aside from Onward, she was in the newspaper, yearbook and Japanese clubs, joined the Providence Student Union, completed an internship at Providence Youth Makers, took four AP classes senior year – all while working at Burlington – and plays piano and paints.

She chose to study engineering at Northeastern University. “The location was really nice. I wanted to go somewhere in Massachusetts, but I wasn’t that picky about Boston or another city. Also the financial aid was pretty good, and I saw engineering was a bit better there and also I liked that they had the co-ops.”

Working with Associate Director of College Admissions Ana Almeida, who oversees the Honorific Program, alleviated her stress as a first-generation college student throughout the admissions process.

“Ana was there to tell me what to do and all her steps were very detailed and concentrated and it helped me know, step by step, what I need to do. So I didn’t need to panic. I also had her phone number so I could text her, too. She was always available,” she said. “I don’t know how I would have done it without Ana.”