Sandra Cun
"My mother was a seamstress so I grew up sewing and was able to apply those skills at the Skidmore Costume Shop. I was soon hired by them and couldn't believe they were paying me to do what I loved--sewing and making theatrical costumes. I was really interested in fashion and decided to take textiles and fiber arts classes in the Art Department to learn more about fabrics. Skidmore didn't have any official fashion or textile major so I was able to create an independent studies program for myself through the theater department where I studied costume construction, design, and how fabrics applied to clothing vs. costume. That led to internships, and now to my job with Ralph Lauren."
- Studied abroad in Beijing
- Independent studies in Fashion Design as well as Management and Business
- Volunteer in Theater Department costume shop
- Summer Intern: Alternative Outfitters – working in inventory management, website, photography and PR
- Summer Intern at Dona Karan Collection – working with fabric library, creating mill and color cards, dyeing fabric and administrative tasks
- Member Periclean Society – Skidmore College Honors Society
Bianca Drew
“Attending Connecticut College would not have been possible without the mentoring and financial support from Bright Prospect. As a child I dreamt of attending an outstanding college, but it took Bright Prospect to make my dream a reality. All the advice and extra effort Bright Prospect puts into each student is amazing and very inspirational. As I continue my education at Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, pursuing my MSW, I will take the same drive and motivation to help others into my career as Bright Prospect has done with me.”
- Mentored incoming minority freshmen
- CELS Fellow in the Campus Career Center leading workshops and coaching students on job search activities
- Member, Psychology Student Advisory Board
- Treasurer, Connecticut College Psi Chi National Honor Society Chapter
- Research Internship at Fairleigh Dickenson University on juvenile delinquency and punishment
- Studied abroad in Vietnam
Armando Fregoso
"I grew personally from my freshman year, when I disliked Dartmouth College and transferred elsewhere for a semester, until I returned the following fall and the College grew on me. I have no regrets and I'm extremely thankful that Bright Prospect encouraged me to return, and that Dartmouth welcomed me back – best decision ever! Bright Prospect stood by me through it all."
- Earned California Real Estate Salesperson License as an undergraduate
- Interned for two industrial real estate developers in Orange County
- Interned in Budapest, Hungary, with Colliers International, an international real estate brokerage firm
- Member, Dartmouth Society of Investment and Economics
- Member Real Estate Club, Tuck [graduate] School of Business
- Employed by an industrial real estate developer doing analysis and asset management
- Plans to attend MBA program and then return to commercial real estate development field
Nora Garcia
"Throughout my travels and adventures, Bright Prospect has supported me emotionally and financially. There were a number of family crises during my stay at St. Mary's and without Bright Prospect's support I don't know what I would have done. I hope to one day return to Pomona High School as a teacher and recommend my own students to Bright Prospect."
- Studied at Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Oxford University
- Studied Irish history in Ireland
- Taught English in Guadalajara
- AmeriCorps volunteer
- Interned with Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher and Assembly member Nancy Skinner
- Worked for Oakland Raiders while completing teaching credential
- Pursuing Masters in Fine Arts at St. Mary's
Isaura Guerrero
"Four years ago I would have never thought that the day would come when I would be purchasing my cap and gown for my graduation from Stanford. I had arrived at Stanford just as nervous as all the other incoming freshmen, yet confident that I had made the right choice. At that stage of my life I was worrying about how I would navigate my first year away from my parents and sisters and everything I knew in Pomona. However, I had an amazing network of support that helped me arrive at where I am now."
- Valedictorian of high school class
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Summer Intern
- Selected to participate in national Latina Leadership Conference
- Studied abroad in Berlin and in Santiago, Chile
- Bright Prospect Summer Intern
Joanna Hernandez
"My life changed the day I was called into my high school counselor's office and introduced to the Bright Prospect Scholar Support Program. As I ready myself to embark on a new journey into law school, I know that the Bright Prospect staff will be a source of support, as they have been since I met them and they greeted me with warm smiles. Throughout the years, if I've ever needed someone to talk to, they have always been a phone call away ready with encouraging words of wisdom. Bright Prospect is truly part of my extended family."
- Awarded fellowship for travel and study in Spain
- Worked at an immigration law firm
- Helped launch the Bright Prospect Alumni Network
- Accepted to 12 law schools, including Cornell and George Washington Schools of Law
- Attending UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) class of 2013
Adriene McCance
"At Dartmouth, people inspire me every day to continue learning and growing – people so different from those back home that I still get a small culture shock every time I switch locations. For example, I just hosted a dinner party with guests who included a boy who had lived in England for the past year (and is attempting to receive degrees from both Dartmouth and Oxford), a girl who had just returned after three months in Kuwait, a boy who just returned from three months in Columbia and another girl who had traveled through India in December. I love my college and
I am so thankful to Bright Prospect for opening doors I hadn't even known existed."
- Admitted to 15 colleges and universities
- Managed largest student-run budget of any Dartmouth organization
- Studied in Barcelona
- Founded a Sorority which has grown to 50 members. Served as first president
- Interned with a California Assemblyman
- Interned with a law clinic
- Selected as a Management Leadership for Tomorrow Fellow
- As a Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Fellow, will be interning at J.P. Morgan
Edgardo Monteon
"The way into industries like computer graphics has so much competition that without Bright Prospect and without having gone to a top-50 institution like Connecticut College, it would have been far more difficult to pursue successfully what I had only been able to dream of in my high school years. After the experiences I've had, I understand that it is imperative for students in high school to have a partner like Bright Prospect at their side to guide them as they did me."
- Completed a two-year computer graphics program through Connecticut College Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology
- Designed and painted a large church mural in New London, Connecticut community
- Worked in O Entertainment animation studio in San Clemente, California
- Currently building computer-generated worlds for educational DVDs at Music Intelligence Project LLC
Oscar Monteon
"I clearly remember meeting my freshman roommates for the first time. Whether it was the many international friends I met or the sheer beauty of the campus, I was sure I had made the right choice to attend Connecticut College, which soon became my home away from home. While there, I focused in the visual arts, learning not only techniques and theory but also about what drives me as a creative artist. Having Bright Prospect at my side meant I was ready to take an academic leap that would have otherwise been financially and academically very difficult."
- Completed a two-year computer graphics program through Connecticut College Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology
- Interned at XVIVO, a scientific animation company
- Internship of the Year Award
- Worked for an animation studio doing character modeling and as a texture artist
- Currently working as a set designer and modeler for an animated series
Heber Moran
"Coming from such a humble background, I feel blessed to have studied at one of the best universities in the world. Due to Bright Prospect's incessant support and belief that I had a remarkable destiny to fulfill, I have had wonderful experiences that I will always cherish, and am now close to fulfilling my dream of becoming an attorney with a deep understanding and appreciation for how the legal system can help the most disadvantaged."
- Proud son of a gardener and a housekeeper
- Valedictorian of high school class
- Accepted to Cornell, Brown, Columbia and Stanford
- Studied abroad in Chile
- Congressional Summer Intern
- Awarded Haas Urban Summer Fellowship for a community service project in Pomona
- Summer internship in Los Angeles City Attorney's office
- Loyola Law School class of 2012
Peter Muhn
“Vassar. This place has equipped me with irreplaceable knowledge, experience, pain, fun and joys. I never imagined that I would join the rowing team my freshman year. Heck, I didn’t even know rowing existed. But now, I’ve had the opportunity to travel throughout the East Coast for competitions and I get to row on the scenic Hudson River every single morning. Bright Prospect continually supported me, both financially and by simply being there to talk with me about my academics or personal life. Without their guidance, I would not have even known Vassar existed, let alone applied here and to other prestigious universities such as UC Berkeley and Wesleyan.”
- Member of the rowing team
- Studied everything from biochemistry and psychopathology to Korean and philosophy
- Discovered a passion for science
- Interned as a Radiation Oncology Therapist Assistant at a hospital in Poughkeepsie
- Plans to go to medical school
Cuong Nguyen
"The friends I've made here at Wesleyan are wonderful. I have had the amazing opportunity to visit two of my closest college friends and spend Thanksgiving holidays with them, one in New York City and the other in Washington, DC. They are genuinely kind and humble people... with the amazing ability to cook."
- Recipient: Gates Millennium Scholarship
- Recipient: Benjamin Gillman International Scholarship
- Summer Intern for Wesleyan Freshman Orientation Program
- Interned for Wesleyan Alumni and Parent Relations
- Performed in campus dance group "Terpsichore"
- Attending London School of Economics for 2010-11 school year
Lorenzo Ramirez
"Bright Prospect's dedicated staff have helped many students like me in our endeavors, our research pursuits and in networking with other students like ourselves. I have fallen in love with biology and have had the opportunity to do both teaching and amazing research, especially with my Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship mentor. With her help I had the opportunity to research puffins at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and together we published an abstract at the American Ornithological Union Conference."
- Awarded Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
- Did research on invasive plant species, funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- Did research on DNA cloning, through University of Houston Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (UH-AGEP)
- Did developmental genetics research on inner ear development in mice at U. Penn
- Husbandry and Aviculture Intern at the Aquarium of the Pacific
- Pursuing Ph.D. at University of Pennsylvania, with a full ride, in Cellular and Molecular Biology: Gene Therapy and Vaccines
Marisol Ramirez
“I can sincerely say that Bright Prospect placed me on the path that guided me to Harvard. Many students in our community, particularly women, do not have the confidence to dream big, but Bright Prospect engenders this necessary confidence. I would have never considered leaving California if the Bright Prospect staff had not encouraged me to expand my horizons and to believe in my intellectual abilities. Bright Prospect has made all the difference.”
- Awarded Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
- Co-director of Harvard Ballet Folklórico dance team
- Did research and website development for a foundation in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Studied abroad in Italy and Spain, and traveled in Paris and Dublin
- Volunteered in college community for 3 years, reading to children in Spanish
Jose Sanchez
"At Connecticut College, I had the opportunity to learn through class projects, small classes, a rigorous science curriculum and the chance to study other subjects I enjoyed. Aside from unique research opportunities, I enjoyed club soccer, volunteering, student government, physics student leadership and individual projects. The social scene was a transition, but through it I have made lifelong friends and have established permanent professional relationships."
- Awarded Howard Hughes Science Fellowship
- Researched high energy, atomic-molecular collisions in college's linear accelerator
- Studied soil specimens for college arboretum
- Rewrote a laboratory manual
- Taught science in New York public schools
- Pursuing M.A. in Secondary Education
- Plans to attend law school and pursue a career in Patent Law
Charles Seipp
“I’ve learned SO much from doing independent research. I gained useful knowledge in both the fields of biology and chemistry and learned how to read doctorate level papers and perform advanced research. But most important of all, I’ve learned how to learn on my own. It is one thing to learn from a book, but it is an entirely different experience to discover new concepts and learn from these new results. It has honestly been one of the most life changing experiences I have had since I have gotten into college. And as thankful as I am to attend Williams, I recognize this would have not been possible without the help of Bright Prospect.”
- Summer internship doing biochemical research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Doing independent research in organic chemistry
- Became passionate about fencing. Captain of Williams Fencing Club





