Meet Emilia Wright! She saved approximately $25,000 in tuition expense, earning 66 credits, from enrolling in the PSEO program at the Saint Cloud State University -- starting her journey in 11th grade! She is currently majoring in Economics and Classics. By enrolling in the PSEO program she will be earning an Associate’s degree in Arts by the end of this semester (Spring 2021)!
EMILIA: My name is Emilia Wright and I first began PSEO in my junior year of high school. Before PSEO, I had skipped two grades in elementary school and as such, was only fourteen. With the guidance of my counselors and advisors, I entered Saint Cloud State University as a full-time student in Fall 2019. For the next two years, I took advantage of every opportunity that arose, including SCSU's Student Government Association, where I served as their youngest senator, Students United Delegate, and Academic Affairs member at the age of fifteen.
When senior year started, it was undoubtedly the PSEO program that enabled me to be confident enough to truly shoot for the stars in my college application process. My high school's resources were limited, but the confidence and skills that PSEO gave me truly transformed my applications. I was selected as Questbridge Scholar, a Burger King McLamore Foundation Scholar, a Colorado Bridge Scholar. I was also given a full-ride scholarship to Colorado College, a selective LAC in Colorado Springs, where I will be majoring in Economics and Classics. I'm considering doing their 3:3 Program with Columbia Law School, a program I'm able to do because of PSEO.
In PSEO, I earned 66 credits, and graduated with my Associate of Arts, summa cum laude, from Saint Cloud State University before I even graduated high school. I saved countless dollars, approximately $25,000 with all fees added up and gained advisors, faculty support, and confidence in myself. It would not be an exaggeration that PSEO has truly transformed me as both a student and a person. PSEO changed my interests, taught me to become an independent and confident student, and is truly a program I seemed to have grown up in.
I was so proud to be a part of this program, a program that aids education as a whole toward becoming one step closer to reaching equitability in the post-secondary education system.