Four students from Williamsburg Charter High School are preparing to attend prestigious Ivy League universities when they graduate this June – and they’ll be going free of charge.  

Shanik Collado, Marianny Pagan, Jasminda Madrid and Yero Diamanka will be paying for their high-level education with nothing except their time.  

Collado has chosen to study psychology at Columbia University, specifically focusing on children’s needs. She says she chose that major due to her childhood experiences.  

Pagan says she will be studying science at Barnard College at Columbia University, since it has been her passion since childhood.  

“Science has always been something that I’ve been passionate about,” said Pagan. “As a little kid, you could always find me making slime, doing little experiments.” 

Madrid says her plans to study law at University of Pennsylvania came to be thanks to a college-run program called Legal Outreach, which she has been a part of for the last four years. She says the program is very legal-based and that it helped her discover her passion for that field.

Diamanka will be studying business at the University of Chicago, and he says he enjoys the global aspects of the field of business.  

Carmel Waldron helped teach all four of these high-achieving students, and says she is sad to see them go.  

“But I have hope for them, I know they will do it,” said Waldron. “These kids, they overcame a lot.”