Two Jose Marti MAST seniors accepted to prestigious colleges

Two Jose Marti MAST 6-12 Academy seniors have been accepted to prestigious colleges.
Israel Palencia Lamela has been a student at Jose Marti for the past seven years. He leaves the school as a student who not only took advantage of the rigorous curriculum but also was looking for opportunities to continue his passion for athletics after playing for the Jose Marti middle school basketball team.
He became a varsity basketball player at his home school, Hialeah Senior High School, while excelling academically at Jose Marti. He is the school’s first student attending Davidson College this fall and became the scool’s second ever Posse scholarship recipient. Due to his outstanding community service, he was nominated for the Silver Knight Award in the category of Athletics. Palencia Lamela is a role-model for student athletes as he will be graduating with a 4.734 weighted GPA. He truly embodies the mantra of a student first and an athlete second.
Emilio De Leon is another Jose Marti lifer. Throughout middle and high school, nobody can question De Leon’s desire to be a leader who wants to make a positive impact on society and change it for the better. He is the Student Government Association’s executive president and has presided over Inter-Club Council which has promoted student inclusion across campus.
Overall, De Leon has been accepted to nine different colleges including Amherst, Boston College, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Harvey Mudd and Williams College. He has received close to a million dollars in institutional and merit aid from the colleges and universities he has been admitted to. He has yet to make a decision about where he will be attending but as May 1 inches closer, his decision will come sooner rather than later.