As a young girl riding the bus into the small town of Kings Mills, Katherine (Katie) Waissbluth dreamed that one day she’d make it to the Ivy League. Her wish was not diminished by the fact that no one from Kings High School had ever attended her dream school, in fact this motivated her to work hard and ultimately reach her goal. Her destination: Stanford University.

“I think she tapped it out in morse code on her moms cervix when she was an eight month old fetus,” joked Katie’s father, Alvaro Waissbluth. But the truth was that she fell in love with the school after the first visit when her brother was interested in attending.

As most schools come with ups and downs, for her dad, the least exciting aspect of attending Stanford is the cost of attendance. For Katie, it’s the unfamiliarity. However, it’s a school to further her dreams. Katie’s dad said going to Stanford is “a damn good start by golly” when it comes to the fact that she wants to become the president of the United States one day. She is going to major in political science. “I’ve realized the levels of corruption and injustice currently in our country and I’ve wanted to be the President more and more as I’ve matured.” She is well aware that four presidents have gone to Stanford!

She also wants to major in computer science, saying it’s a dream come true because Stanford is located in the tech capital of the world. She loves that it’s fifteen minutes from a surfing beach and only 3 hours from a mountain where she can snowboard. Not only does it come with adventure, but also family. Her grandparents, aunt, uncle and close family friends live an hour away. She says “Campus gets 362 days of sunshine a year and it is the most selective university in the country.” She trusts fully that she can have an exciting, well rounded education there. “I feel like what I want to do with my life is more achievable than ever at Stanford.”

As odd as it may seem, she plans to minor in gender studies and human rights with her double major. When Katie toured the campus and fell in love with it, “it was hard to not get caught up in the emotions due to how selective the school is,” and “walking around a school like Stanford, all you think is, I’m never going to get in here.” Her dad has never doubted her ability.

“She’s got serious skillzzzzzz,” said Alvaro. He views Katie through proud eyes. “I have always been amazed by my daughters drive to be the best she can be and witnessed the incredible amount of work she has put into every endeavor she has undertaken.” He is a proud dad because of his daughter. All of the effort she has given has paid off with an invitation to the best school in the country. Katie’s boyfriend, Nico Melton agrees, “Although it’s an extremely selective school, it doesn’t surprise me that Katie was accepted. I’ve always thought if there was anyone from Kings to get accepted it would be her,” he said.

Katie is excited to go to Stanford and is excited about taking advantage of all the amazing resources and connections the school offers. She says “I’m glad I realized so young where I wanted to go because it motivated me to push myself very hard inside and outside of school in order to get into the college I knew I loved.” And she has done just this. The overwhelming feeling was only the beginning of the whirlwind of acceptance letters and room assignments. Starting in the Fall of 2018, she will finally ride onto the campus of Stanford University, an ivy league school that is no longer her dream but reality.