Sharena Brown

Ten AP classes

A full tuition scholarship

Sharena Brown will be attending Grinnell College in the fall, majoring in Biochemistry.

Through the QuestBridge program, Sharena was matched with 12 universities, linking her to scholarship opportunities. Through a two-step process, the program requires a separate application for QuestBridge to determine a spot as a finalist. Once named a finalist, 12 additional applications are required for each college.

“I like Grinnell because it’s a small school and they have social justice in their mantra, which is important to me,” Brown said. “There are so many research opportunities that pertain to my major at Grinnell and I know I would have a lot of exposure to courses related to my major.”

Her academic dedication has made an obvious payoff. Taking a laundry list of AP classes, Sharena’s involvement in AP Comparative Government allowed her the opportunity to be a part of We the People, a competition consisting of a mock congressional hearing, asking a panel of students questions concerning a political topic.

“All of the Comparative Government students were involved,” Brown said. “If I weren’t in the class, the competition would not have been on my mind. I’m very scared of public speaking, so the whole experience was a learning curve. I never would have put myself in that situation had I not been in the class, but I learned how to keep myself calm in a public speaking situation. I learned how to control my nerves and how to better myself in a situation I’m not really comfortable in. I don’t regret it, in hindsight I really enjoyed it.”