While flying to Boston for his very first national journalism convention in November 2013, Austin Woodard looked out the window and caught a small glimpse of Boston University’s campus. On that trip he was unable to visit the school, but he was intrigued.
Nine months later, Woodard made a trip back to Boston to see more of the school, and after that visit he was determined to work hard the rest of his high school career to get accepted to BU.
“I loved the location. It is a very urban setting, and I love cities. I have never liked being in the country,” Woodard said.
Woodard will attend BU this fall to major in human physiology. He received $50,000 in scholarships and grants, which will help pay his $60,000 tuition.
“One big reason I chose Boston was because you don’t have to be a pre-med major to take pre-med courses,” Woodard said. “You get to work with Massachusetts General Hospital, which is one of the top rated hospitals in the country.”
Woodard along with Emily Labbate, Heather Bradley and Victoria Sellers are four seniors who will travel out of state to attend college.
Bradley will attend Penn State University in the fall. It is a 10-hour ride, but Bradley will start off her first two years at Schuylkill Satellite Campus that is two and a half hours away from the main campus. Bradley plans to study astrophysics.
“My brother went to Penn State so I figured I would apply,” Bradley said. “Then I got accepted there, and it was the best out of all the other schools I had applied to.”
The department of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State is ranked fourth out of the top 10 elite universities nationwide. Bradley received $22,000 in scholarships, which will cover her full tuition.
Sellers will be making a six-hour trip for the next four years to the University of Alabama. She will receive $18,000 per year starting her sophomore year from the U.S. Air Force to help pay for her major in business and logistics. As a freshman she will be starting ROTC .
“I looked at Chapel Hill, Appalachian State and Clemson University briefly, but I always wanted to go to Alabama because I moved to North Carolina from Mississippi,” Sellers said. “I have a lot of friends who are going to the University of Alabama, it has also been engrained in me since I was little that I should go to Alabama.”
Labbate will be driving eight hours to return home as she attends the University of Florida to major in music performance.
Labbate accepted a plan called the Florida prepaid which will pay for her instate tuition. The Florida prepaid plan is an account that parents of students wanting to attend a Florida school can invest in when the child is young.
By Isabella Perron
