Don’t let her shy exterior fool you. Ginelle Servat is a leader in more ways than one: she’s a vital part of the Million-Dollar Band as well as vice president for Mu Alpha Theta. She can be found coding away diligently in the computer science class, working on innovative programs that will inevitably change the future, which is why it came as no surprise that Ginelle matched to Stanford University with a fully paid Questbridge scholarship.

Stanford, which is known to be a prestigious mix between MIT’s technical advances and Harvard’s dedication to leadership, will undoubtedly be a perfect fit for Ginelle.

Ginelle found that during the application process all aspects are vital. “You shouldn’t cheap out on any of them: not your extracurricular involvement, not your grades, and certainly not your essays,” she explained.

In addition to Stanford, Ginelle listed Brown, Yale, Rice, Duke and MIT as her desired schools for Questbridge. When asked why she thinks she got into Stanford, she explained, “Stanford’s short essays exposed parts about me that I didn’t get to show with the rest of my application, nor with other schools’ applications.”

Besides her work the band and the math honor society, Ginelle’s extracurricular involvement makes her stand apart from other applicants. During her freshman year at Miami High, she joined a multitude of clubs from Spanish Honor Society to the jazz band, but over the years, she narrowed these down.

Sophomore year she became a leader for marching band and participated in extracurricular band organizations. During Pre-Covid summers, you could find Ginelle volunteering as a Venetian pool teaching aide or as a camp counselor at a special needs summer camp.

Last summer Ginelle was chosen to be a part of the selective CURIE Academy, a girls-only engineering summer program, hosted by Cornell’s Diversity Programs in Engineering.

At Stanford she intends to major in electrical engineering. “However,” she claimed, “I’ll definitely be exploring computer science, data science, and cognitive science.”

Ginelle explained that her time in AP Computer Science Principles helped her decide what she wanted to study. “In that class I finally had a glimpse of the branch of STEM I wanted to be a part of,” she stated.

In addition to AP Computer Science, Ginelle has taken 12 AP Classes, including rigorous ones such as AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics.

Ginelle showed pure elation at being accepted into Stanford, but she admits that she fears learning to cook on her own and worries about her organization skills.

Nonetheless, she is looking forward to the beautiful weather of sunny Palo Alto, California. “I can’t wait to make new connections and friends on the other side of the country!” exclaimed Ginelle.

If given the opportunity Ginelle would like to tell her younger self, “I know young me would never believe where I ended up, and I’d give her encouragement for when she feels like she can’t make it, but I’d tell her to both try harder and try less. Although there’s always room to push further, it’s better for her to not stress over things she can’t change because it really worked out in the end either way.”

To kids with similar aspirations Ginelle advised, “Don’t be afraid to pursue your interests. Follow them; explore them; surround yourself with the ideas you want. You are your own individual.”

In 10 years Ginelle sees herself in Silicon Valley. “It is right next door to Stanford,” she said.

Other Super Seniors and where they’re going to school next fall:

Alberto Figueroa- Rice University

Lisbet Sanchez- Cornell University

Valerie Hernandez- Emory University

Gabriel Ferrer- Harvard University 

Rolando Morales- New York University