Evelyn Robles. Courtesy photo.
SANTA MARIA — A PVHS AVID student who achieved high school greatness despite many challenges has been rewarded with a full-ride scholarship to Yale University.
Evelyn Letona Robles, ranked first in the Class of 2021 with a weighted GPA of 4.83, won the prestigious QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship. The program connects high-achieving seniors from low-income backgrounds with full four-year scholarships to the nation’s top educational institutions.
“I am humbled and honored to be the first QuestBridge scholar for Pioneer Valley High School,’’ said Robles, who also serves as the President of the Unicef-Club on campus. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime and I am extremely excited to continue my education at Yale. I want to give special thanks to my parents, the teachers, the school district, and the AVID program for preparing me for the rigors of an Ivy League education. I hope that my example can inspire other Santa Maria youth to follow their academic and collegiate dreams.”
Robles will major in Political Science with hopes of building on her advocacy skillset to enter law or government to create systemic change and fight for equality, according to Panther Social Science Department Co-Chair and Avid Advisor Kevin Ilac.
“Evelyn is a student advocate for equality and a social justice fighter in the making,’’ Ilac said. “She is an academic stalwart who is revered by students and staff and one of the finest students ever to grace the halls of PV. She becomes the first student in our school’s history to be accepted to Yale University.”
Robles is the child of immigrants and honors her family’s sacrifice as a first-generation college student.
This year, 1,464 finalists were selected as Match Scholarship Recipients at 42 colleges/universities, with 72 matched to Yale.