13 Jan Richmond High Student Earns Full Academic Scholarship to Columbia University

Cesia Mejia, Richmond High senior, will attend the Ivy League Columbia University in the fall.  Before 2020, she didn’t live in the U.S. or speak English. (Photo courtesy of Cesia Mejia)

By Joe Porrello

Moving from El Salvador to the U.S. at age 13 in 2020, Cesia Mejia went from struggling to learn English to earning a full-ride academic scholarship at one of the most prestigious colleges in the country. 

Now 17 years old and a senior at Richmond High, she will attend Columbia University in New York City next school year.

Meija’s 4.0 GPA helped her win the QuestBridge Scholarship, a program that links exemplary high school seniors from low-income backgrounds with full four-year scholarships to 52 of the top U.S. colleges.

Extracurricularly, she volunteers at events like cleanups and toy, food and clothing drives with Richmond High’s Kiwins Club as well as Rosie’s Leadership Group with the Rosie the Riveter Trust.

“I’m really excited. I never imagined myself going to Columbia,” Mejia said. “But I am a little scared because I’m going to be far away, and I’ve never been there before.”

Though, it won’t be her first time learning new surroundings; this time, her move will be about 500 miles less, and she won’t have to master another dialect during a pandemic. 

Mejia says sitting in front of a computer screen unable to understand much of what her eighth grade teachers were saying pushed her to learn English even faster. 

“At first, it was really complicated and frustrating; everybody else was speaking the language, and I couldn’t,” she said.

Shortly after, Mejia decided to dedicate her time to succeeding academically.

“Since pretty much my freshman year, I’ve really focused on school more than other things like going out with my friends,” she said.

More recently, Mejia said she has found a balance, allowing her to have more free time and be part of a folklórico dance group.

Her motivation and inspiration to excel in school partly comes from her high school instructors.

“I’ve met some really incredible teachers that have played a big role,” said Mejia. “They not only help me with college things like applications but also help me implement things into my daily life.”

She credits her mother and father with making her aware — as far back as she can remember — of how important a sound education is. Now, Mejia is the first in her family to attend college and is on her way to a university with roughly a 4% acceptance rate.

“My parents are really over the moon, but I’m also their youngest child and only girl, so they protect me a lot and worry about me being far from them,” she said.

Mejia’s older brother and parents, she noted, never got the opportunity to experience college.

“In a way I’m doing this not only for me, but also for them,” she said. “I have younger cousins too, and I’m really happy to be an example for them.”

For high school students feeling like the odds are against them, Mejia serves as an illustration of hope.

“I know a lot of people feel like college isn’t for them, but I would tell them to still try,” she said. “Everyone can go — there’s always a school that will want someone like them.”

With lots of resources at Richmond High for kids wanting to attend college, Mejia says students should not be shy about asking for guidance.

“Maybe their parents can’t support them financially, but there’s solutions to get around that,” she said. “Without the scholarship… it would have been really hard for my parents or me to pay the tuition.”

When she gets to Columbia, Mejia plans to major in public health because she is passionate about improving the lives of children in marginalized communities that lack access to healthcare.

In her youth, Mejia says she spent a lot of time in hospitals with poor conditions and a lack of resources, which made it difficult for her mother to take care of her while her father was working.

“Now, living in a new country, I see how my parents face additional challenges, needing my support to navigate medical appointments,” she said. “I want children and their families to have a better healthcare system than the one in which I had growing up; I want the kids that spend their nights in the hospital, as I did, to have a cozy place that could resemble their home while they go through all the difficult treatments and recovery processes.”