Loretto Academy student inspired by her single mother, earns a full-ride to Notre Dame

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)— Loretto Academy Marina Delgado continues to celebrate her accomplishments. She recently found out she is a 2025 recipient of the QuestBridge Scholarship.

“It's absolutely overwhelming. I'm still processing. It's surreal. Even a year ago, I didn't know the program existed, so to be sitting here, a year later, knowing that, not only I found out about the program, about QuestBridge, but I was lucky enough to become a finalist and then to match to one of my dream universities. It's completely unbelievable.”

She has earned a full, four-year scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. The programs cover tuition, housing, books, meals, supplies and travel.

The moment she found out she was a recipient is one she’ll never forget.

“I ran downstairs, I almost tripped, and I went, so I said, ‘Mom, they're out. We need to open them. We need to open them.’ So with my sister and my mom with trembling fingers, I opened the email and then said ‘You had matched.’ I just stared. I had a delayed reaction because I was like, ‘I can’t believe it,’” the Loretto senior said.

Her mother, Monica Delgago, said that moment is also engraved in her memory.

“It's going to be something that you're never going to forget. It's something that's always going to be everyone's happy about,” she said.

During the application process, Marina was tasked with writing a statement. She decided to go the personal route and highlight her mother.

“I wanted to show the admissions officers or the people who would be reading my essay that side of me. I wrote about growing up with my mom, how that shaped me, growing up in a single-parent household with the tightness of my sister and my mom, and how their support has led me to where I am today.”

Her mother said she was honored to be included, but she said she can’t take all the credit.

Nancy Tovar, the principal of the high school and middle school, told ABC-7 that Marina represents the best of Loretto Academy.

“Marina is a kind of a quiet leader. You don't always hear her and see her. She's always with her, her nose-to-the-grindstone kind of kid. She's such a hard worker. I had conversations with her. Sometimes I'm trying to encourage her to kind of take it a little easy. She can't. She doesn't know how to do that. And that kind of perseverance, that kind of dedication. That's why she is where she is,” Tovar said.

Marina said she’s looking forward to the big move this summer. She said she feels she’ll fit right into the Notre Dame community.

"I'm very devoted in my faith. And I feel like that's a central part of who I am and the foundation of where I am to continue growing. So knowing that Notre Dame is a Catholic school as well, knowing that I'll have that foundation. And even though I'm moving really far away, I know that I'll find similar community over there,” Marina said.

Marina plans on majoring in behavioral neuroscience. She hopes to become a child psychiatrist. She wants to make trauma-focused behavioral therapy even more accessible, especially to children.

Marina is also a semifinalist for the Gates Scholarship. It’s currently in phase two of the selective process.