ASHEBORO, N.C. — Katherine Esponda, a recent graduate from Asheboro High School has been accepted to 8 different colleges and received a full-ride to 3 different Ivy League Schools including Harvard University.
“When I found out I’d been accepted to Harvard, it felt like a dream. It just didn’t seem real,” Esponda said. “I was so shocked. I’m very excited about meeting different people.”
Along with being accepted to Harvard where she plans to study this fall. The graduate has been accepted to Columbia, Yale, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Boston College, Wake Forest, and Queens University.
She dreams of one day becoming a doctor and plans to major in neuroscience on a pre-med track.
“I want to become an internal medicine doctor and serve underserved communities,” Esponda said. “My hope is that my story will encourage others to push past their fears and embrace challenges.”
PHOTOS: Asheboro High School grad receives full-ride to Harvard, dreams of becoming a doctor
Being bilingual and the daughter of Cuban immigrants, she said she hopes to help serve as a translator for spanish-speaking patients the day she becomes a physician.
“I want to be there for my patients and help serve them better,” she said.
Esponda was dual-enrolled at Asheboro High School and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics before graduating.
Some of her favorite courses included molecular genetics, neuroscience, organic chemistry, and biomedical engineering.
She also was involved in multiple extra-curricular activities including playing tenor saxophone in the Asheboro High band, a member of the Asheboro High Health Sciences Academy and more. Esponda said she graduated with 4.6 gpa.
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