Nine high school graduates will be taking the college world by storm after amassing nearly $11 million in scholarship money. Saniya Smith, Shakira Simo, Robert Hernandez, Gabrielle Henriques, Nina Gonzales, Akua Amponsah, Alyssa Rill, Rehema Ojwang and Kaylynn Little all graduated from Cardinal Spellman Catholic high school in Brockton, MA with each being awarded more than $1 million in merit-based grants from some of the top colleges in the country. The nine students’ scholarship money raked in a grand total of $10,799,476.

On average, the students applied to 16 universities each, with Hernandez applying to 20. Earning such a high figure took countless hours of essay writing and applications as the students applied for not only university scholarships, but outside grants as well. Many of the grants the students applied for offered as little as $1,000. Some of the students went out of their comfort zones by calling up universities and asking for more money in addition to the scholarships they’d earned. The students will be attending top tier schools like Princeton University, Marist College, SUNY Stonybrook, and Lehman College. Dierdre Gibbons, the director of admissions at Spellman, said the high figure has some doubters. “Somebody actually called and argued with me that that was impossible,” she said.

Shakira Simo, who will be studying public policy at Brown University, called the achievement “inspiring.” “I think it’s really inspiring to accomplish something so big. It’s not something I really would have imagined when I was a freshman, sophomore or even junior. I think just having grit and determination, persistence really gets you to that point,” she said. Aside from being extremely bright, the students are also multi-talented, with Hernandez being very involved in theater and looking to continue his passion in college. “I want to be the greatest actor ever. Anything with the musical theater program, I’m jumping on,” he said. Ojwang stated she was “not a genius” and that passion was the key. “What you have to do is just stay passionate in the things that you do — you don’t have to start a business, and you don’t have to start a nonprofit, you don’t have to go to these heights. I think you just have to make sure that you are putting effort into the things that you like doing.”

Cardinal Spellman High School was founded in 1959. Its website boasts an impressive 100 percent graduation rate as well as a 100 percent college acceptance rate. It states its mission is to “promote an aspirational culture of virtue in a Christ-centered environment that encourages superior academic performance, leadership, and service.”