Philadelphia Graduating Senior's Academic Achievements Already Opening Big Doors
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A young woman with a very bright future ahead. CBS3 introduces you to a Philadelphia high school senior whose academic achievements are opening doors.
"I was really surprised. I know it's really selective," Lisber Guillion Minier said.
Lisber, a senior at George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science, is now a Gates Scholar. The prestigious academic award is given only to the most accomplished students. It would be just one of many honors for this graduating senior, who has her pick of four Ivy League schools.
"Cornell, U-Penn, Harvard and Brown," Lisber said.
Her choice?
"I committed to Harvard," Lisber said.
Soon to be Boston bound for one of the best universities in the country, this humble student is still processing the next step in her journey.
"It feels sort of like a fantasy, honestly," Lisber said. "It doesn't feel real yet."
For Lisber's mother Evelyn Guillion, it's all very real and a dream she's always had for her daughter since moving to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2009.
"We've been through a lot, but she made it through of the hard stuff and she never held back," she said. "She just kept fighting."
As Eyewitness News was interviewing Lisber and her mom another surprise came -- Amazon offered her a $40,000 scholarship and a chance to intern with them during college.
The sky appears to be the limit for a student whose parents saw no limits for her.
"I'm thinking business consulting," Lisber said. "I think that would be the best way to dip my toes into every industry and see what really, really interests me."
"You have to believe in yourself and you have to keep going," Evelyn said.