Renaissance Academy Seniors Earn $3 Million in College Scholarships

The following release was submitted by the Renaissance Academy.

Faye Tiger Conquest, High School Counselor for the Renaissance Academy Charter School, proudly announced today that the seniors of the Renaissance Academy Class of 2013 have passed the three million dollar mark in awarded college scholarship money.   These 51 seniors, who have been accepted to universities such as Temple, Drexel, and St. Joseph’s, have collectively earned a total of $3,162,000 in scholarships.  Mrs. Conquest reported that, “This senior class is the 9th graduating class at Renaissance and, while all classes have been extremely successful, this class has been awarded the largest amount of scholarship money to date.”

About this milestone, Gina Guarino Buli, CEO of Renaissance Academy said, “As the leader of our school, I take great pride in celebrating every stage of a child’s academic career; and truly relish the opportunity to see our high school seniors reach this level of accomplishment.  Mrs. Buli added, “While our school is dwarfed in size by many of our area districts, it is a great pride-point to boast such a commendable level of scholarship offerings.”

Stand out senior, Katrina Zougari of Coatesville, PA has received a $90,000 scholarship to study biomedical engineering at Drexel University’s Honors College; a $44,000 Provost Scholarship to attend Temple University; and a $24,000 Provost Scholarship from Penn State, Main Campus.  About her time spent at RenaissanceAcademy, Ms. Zougari said, “The close knit community here at Renaissance makes it feel like a family.  I am able to get one-on-one help and instruction from any teacher.  The classmates that have been with me since I started here have helped me become who I am today.  I owe everything to RA. “

Senior, Alexa Johnson of Phoenixville, PA who was awarded a full tuition scholarship to study psychology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, $92,000 to attend Lycoming College, $56,000 from St. Joseph’s University, and $48,000 to attend Eastern College.  Ms. Johnson said that the teachers and staff at her school have been encouraging her to do her best since she was young.  She went on to say, “My hard work is finally paying off and I owe that to them.”

Other notable senior scholarships include Sarah Messina of Collegeville, PA who has been offered $85,000 to attend Ursinus College, $76,000 from Drexel University, $76,000 from Elizabethtown College, and $56,000 to attend St. Joseph’s University; as well as Logan Cuthbert of Phoenixville, PA, who was accepted to the University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland to study international relations, awarded an $88,000 scholarship to attend Widener University, offered an $80,000 scholarship from Washington College (MD), and $60,000 from Gordon College of Massachusetts.

Michelle Boyd, Upper School Principal at Renaissance, who taught some of these seniors when she was language arts teacher said, “It is with great pride that I congratulate our graduating class of 2013, many of whom began their educational careers in Kindergarten here at Renaissance!  I am not only proud of their vast scholarship attainment but of the young adults they have become today.  This accomplishment is a true reflection of both the students’ individual efforts as well as the staff’s continual focus on post-secondary preparation at Renaissance Academy. “

Established in 1999, Renaissance Academy is a K-12, award-winning, tuition-free, college prep charter school located in Phoenixville, PA.  Renaissance Academy was recently named as a top high school on both the US News and World Report 2012 Best High Schools list and Philadelphia Magazine’s 2012 Top 100 Philadelphia-Area Public Schools.   More information on the school can be found at www.rak12.org.