Gateway High School is proud to announce that two stellar seniors have earned early admission and full four-year scholarships to Ivy League universities through the highly competitive QuestBridge National College Match. Jayden Banos will attend Princeton University, and Adrian Tello will attend Brown University.
QuestBridge is a national nonprofit that connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education. The scholarships cover tuition, housing, food, books, supplies, and travel expenses with no loans or parental contribution required.
For the Banos family, Jayden's acceptance to Princeton continues a remarkable tradition of excellence. His older brother, Xavier Banos, received a $330,000 QuestBridge scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2024, also as a Gateway High School student.
"My family has always valued education to the maximum, and has always pushed me to not settle for the bare minimum when it comes to setting goals," Jayden said. "Through these family values and through many late nights of dedication to maintain that 4.0, it truly means a great deal to fulfill the ultimate goal I've had since the start of high school. I'm still left flabbergasted today that I have been chosen to study, on full scholarship, at Princeton University."
Jayden plans to study Operations Research & Financial Engineering at Princeton, with interests in quantitative finance and applied statistics. He praised the dedication of Gateway's teachers, recalling how his AICE Biology teacher would listen to biology videos during her commute to ensure she could help students succeed.
Adrian has been active in DECA as vice president of finance and in the pre-medical club at FGCU, where he has taken classes for two years. He plans to study Biochemistry and Molecular Biology on a pre-med track at Brown University, with a strong interest in regenerative medicine. Watching his father battle a heart condition for years has shaped his career aspirations and drives his commitment to medicine.
"Being selected means everything I worked for and everything my family sacrificed truly mattered," Adrian said. "I carry this opportunity for not only myself, but also those who believed in me from the beginning. My long-term goal is to use medicine to make a real impact in communities that may not always have access to proper care."
This year, QuestBridge awarded full scholarships to 2,550 high school seniors nationwide. Jayden and Adrian join a community of over 35,000 QuestBridge Scholars and Alumni worldwide.