QuestBridge Scholar Kennedi Jackson matches with MIT

Kennedi Jackson (BRMHS) is in rare company as one of only 2,627 students nationwide to be named a finalist for the QuestBridge Scholarship and match with a top school. She’ll attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 100% debt free. 

Among a highly competitive applicant pool, Kennedi stood out for her grades and ACT score, as well as a summer 2-2024 internship with the LSU College of Engineering. She worked with Electrical Engineering Professor Dr. Xiangyu Meng and his team of graduates on traffic light detection and recognition in autonomous vehicles; their research was published last October.

Kennedi worked closely with Rachel Stevens, her BRYC college counselor, throughout the application process, which required recommendation letters, multiple rounds of essays, and financial documentation. The process begins in late summer and finalists are typically announced in spring. In October, she gained admission to MIT’s WISE program, an immersive weekend experience for prospective students interested in engineering. 

The QuestBridge committee noted Kennedi’s relentless love of learning, evidenced by her enrollment in advanced courses and participation in multiple schools clubs, internships, and community experiences like Codecademy. And they recognized her resilience in the face of hardship: “My journey has not only fostered a passion for higher education that previous members of my family were not afforded, but sparked my specific love for engineering,” Kennedi wrote in one application essay.

The QuestBridge National College Match is a prestigious, competitive scholarship program that connects high-achieving high school seniors from low-income backgrounds with full four-year scholarships to top colleges and universities across the U.S. Kennedi is BRYC’s 11th QuestBridge Scholar; the most recent recipient was Melanie Howard, Class of 2020.