From left to right: Heritage High QuestBridge scholars Joey Martin, Lyndon Bierlein, and Serena Guo.
Three Heritage High School seniors were awarded full four-year scholarships to prestigious colleges through the 2025 QuestBridge National College Match program. Lyndon Bierlein will attend Dartmouth College, Serena Guo will attend the University of Virginia (UVA), and Joey Martin will attend the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
QuestBridge connects high-achieving 12th graders from low-income backgrounds with full-ride scholarships to the top colleges in the U.S. Finalists undergo an intensive application process, during which they demonstrate their aptitude to excel in college and beyond, select their top-choice schools, and are hand-picked by colleges in the final round.
“We are extremely proud of our students. The QuestBridge scholarship is a very prestigious honor. The recognition is well-deserved, as all three of these learners have demonstrated hard work, dedication, and a commitment to being the best students they can be,” said Heritage High principal Tim Beatty.
This year, QuestBridge’s 55 college partners matched with 2,550 early-admission scholarship recipients. Bierlein, Guo, and Martin are the first Heritage High students to be chosen for this competitive award since 2016. Each will receive a generous financial aid package from their respective school, which includes tuition, housing, food, books, supplies, and travel expenses.
From left to right: Heritage High counselor Staci Davis; scholarship coordinator Nannette Boswell; students Joey Martin, Serena Guo, and Lyndon Bierlein; counselor Bernette Beckles; principal Tim Beatty; and counseling director Lisa Thompson.
Meet the Scholars
All three of these top-performing Pioneers are AP Scholar Award recipients, Central Virginia Governor’s School for Science and Technology students, and active members of the Heritage High community. We sat down with the scholarship recipients to learn about their reflections on the award and aspirations for college and beyond.
LCS: Take us back to the moment you found out you got the QuestBridge scholarship. How did that feel?
BIERLEIN: I was going to wait to open my QuestBridge decision email until I was with my family, but then I saw the acceptance email from Dartmouth. I thought they sent it to the wrong student. I honestly didn’t think I’d get into any of the schools on the list, and it was a shock to find out I’d matched with Dartmouth. I’m a first-generation college student, so this is a huge deal for my family and me.
GUO: I’m a first-generation college student, too. I immediately FaceTimed my family after opening my decision email. I really doubted myself throughout the application process—I kept hearing other people’s stories about being a finalist but not matching with any schools. But I wanted to see the process through, and I’m so glad I did. What are the chances?
MARTIN: I was in physics class when I found out. I was like, wow. This is such an amazing opportunity—I didn’t even believe it at first. I was extremely happy because I really wanted to go to Caltech. I also felt an overwhelming sense of calm when I realized I wouldn’t need to worry about applying to schools anymore or writing another 30-something essays in hopes of getting scholarships.
LCS: What do you plan to major in? Is there a career field you’d like to pursue after college?
BIERLEIN: I want to be an environmental engineer. At Dartmouth, I’ll pursue an engineering sciences major modified with environmental sciences.
GUO: I might major in business, but I’m not sure yet. I do a lot of volunteer work with Centra, and I’ve developed an interest in the intersection of business and healthcare. I want to explore solutions to the problem of healthcare access from a business perspective.
MARTIN: I plan to major in computer science with a minor in robotics. I want to do research in college, and Caltech has a great undergraduate research program. I want my future career to focus on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Me and AI go way back, and I’m excited to explore that interest further in college.
Martin’s (left) Career and Technical Education classes at Heritage High helped him discover a passion for computer science. In 2025, he placed second in cybersecurity at the state SkillsUSA conference.
LCS: You’re about to enter a new and exciting chapter of your lives as you graduate from high school and start college. What are you most looking forward to?
BIERLEIN: The main thing I’m excited for is being able to get a degree in what I’m passionate about and take classes I’m interested in. I’ll be able to tailor my schedule based on what I want to study.
GUO: I’m excited to meet new people and live independently while still being close to home. It’ll be a really new experience for me. I’m also looking forward to studying topics that interest me.
MARTIN: I fully expect to be thrown into the deep end at Caltech, taking classes like multivariable calculus, physics, chemistry, and writing for academic research. But as Lyndon said, I’m excited to take classes that are going to benefit me in my future career. Caltech is also a small, tight-knit community. The undergrad population is no bigger than the student body at Heritage. I think I’ll thrive in that environment, and I’m excited to get to know my classmates.
High school research opportunities helped fuel Guo’s interest in a healthcare-related career. Here, she presents a project at the competitive 2025 Virginia State Science & Engineering Fair.
LCS: As exciting as it is to look ahead to this new phase of life, we’re sure it feels bittersweet to leave this chapter behind. How has your time at Heritage High prepared you for success?
BIERLEIN: The counselors here are a really big help. Ms. Boswell has done a lot to help me plan for the future and get this scholarship. Noah Winton from Lynchburg Beacon of Hope has helped me out a lot, too. We have an incredible counseling department at Heritage.
Sports have also been huge. I’ve been on the varsity soccer team for three years. One thing Heritage provides that no other school in the Seminole district does is our large Hispanic community. Growing closer to them helped me understand people from different backgrounds and navigate cultural differences. I even picked up a little bit of Spanish. I think these communication and collaboration skills will help me in college and in my future career.
The last thing I’ll point out is all the opportunities I had at Heritage to explore STEM. Mr. Drumheller’s environmental science class and aquaponics club really helped me understand how science concepts connect to the world around me. I was also part of the Engineering Mentoring Program with BWXT, Framatome, and Vector Space. We designed a release cart that had to go a certain distance, and my team came in first in the competition.
GUO: I did the Summer Residential Governor’s School for humanities—an opportunity I got through Heritage counseling. I met a QuestBridge scholar there who encouraged me to apply. It was a good opportunity to meet diverse people from all across the state, and the topics we explored helped solidify my desire to pursue a healthcare-related career. Without Governor’s School and the Heritage counseling department, I wouldn’t have this opportunity to attend UVA with a full scholarship.
Beacon of Hope also helped me plan for the future, especially when it came to discovering what career fields interest me. I interned with the finance department at C. B. Fleet Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, through Beacon of Hope’s summer internship program. Seeing how the accountants worked was a good opportunity. It’s great that we have Beacon of Hope as a resource for college planning at LCS.
MARTIN: I’ve fallen in love with the research process during my time in Governor’s School. That program has been an amazing opportunity for me. I’ll also say that Mr. Carter’s cybersecurity classes at Heritage inspired me to want to pursue this career field. He’s been my biggest inspiration.
There have also been extracurricular programs that have helped solidify my passion for computer science and robotics, like the FIRST Robotics program through Vector Space and college prep courses and summer programs.
But my favorite part of my experience at Heritage has been sports. I did soccer in ninth and tenth grade, and I’ve been playing tennis since tenth grade. Tennis is extremely hard, and when you first start off, you’ll probably be horrible at it. I certainly was. But I pushed through, and once I started to get good, it became addictive and fun. I think tennis is what made me fond of doing hard things. The mental and physical discipline it helped me build will be key to my success in college and beyond. I want to give a shoutout to Coach Camm and Coach Preston for always supporting me.
