For Cavalier seniors, applying to a top-notch university may seem out of reach due to competitiveness or financial limitations. Nevertheless, the Questbridge scholarship program offers a helping hand to high school students like Angel Li; a Cavalier on the cusp of attending Princeton University.

Li is a senior in the International Baccalaureate program at Coral Gables Senior High. He co-founded and is the co-president of the Engineering Club at Gables. In addition, he is plenty involved with the National Honor Society, IB Honors Society, math club and chess club.

Accepted into the Questbridge program, Li qualified for the prestigious scholarship that supports families with lower incomes. He immediately selected his preferred destinations, which included Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. Out of 49 schools to attend, Li awaited his top fifteen choices to give him a thumbs up for his future.

“He’s really successful academically and shows a big interest in AI that he’s expressed beyond school. But beyond that, he did a lot of projects after school, beyond just taking calc[ulus] or anything. He also did personal development projects and a summer program at MIT. Dedication like that will definitely serve him in the future,” senior Florian Chevalier said.

When college decisions came out, Li was very proud of himself and excited for his future at Princeton. Although he was familiar with “Ivy League” schools, he first learned about Princeton from a YouTuber called Nicolas Chae. Going forward, Li has decided to pursue a masters degree in computer science, as Princeton’s Google Artificial Intelligence Lab is one of the many aspects he is thrilled to explore.

“I like creating stuff on my own and seeing them flourish and AI is always growing. It’s all cool stuff and I want to be part of that frontier of constant change,” senior Angel Li said.

Li was introduced to computer science by his older brother, who attended the University of Florida for computer engineering. Ever since igniting his passion, Li has taken several high school courses related to the subject. After partaking in a virtual program this past summer with MIT, Li was extremely motivated to pursue his likings of science and technology. 

“I am looking forward to meeting friends and making relations with professors. That’s actually another great part of Princeton, there is a really low student to faculty ratio, so I would get more attention, compared to a bigger college. They have a lot of complex stuff, which is why they’re one of the best universities,” senior Li said.

At the collegiate level, Li hopes to charter unknown waters for his next years at Princeton. For him, that signifies building relationships with peers and learning about the student to teacher interaction. Moving away from South Florida has always been Li’s wish although he will miss the subtropical weather and the comfort his family has brought him.

“I’m excited. I’ll miss Gables and the hispanic culture here, but I want to see more Asian and other culture[s] out there, because I basically grew up here,” senior Li said.

Honing his tech-savy skills for New Jersey, Li continues to lead the Engineering club for the remaining months of high school. He relates with a young generation on the verge of unlocking the secrets to Artificial Intelligence and the future of world technology.