MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas — Waco High senior Daniella Mercado got into 3 Ivy League schools and will attend Harvard on a Bill Gates Scholarship.

Waco High School senior Daniella Mercado was accepted to 3 Ivy League schools and will attend Harvard University in the fall to pursue a career in law.Mercado overcame significant adversity, including growing up in a single-mother household and working up to 25 hours a week at 2 part-time jobs while completing AP and dual credit coursework.As a Bill Gates Scholar, Mercado hopes to one day start a foundation or scholarship to help first-generation students like herself achieve higher education.

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Waco High senior gets into 3 Ivy Leagues, heading to Harvard

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

Daniella Mercado worked two part-time jobs and pulled all-nighters to earn her place at Harvard — and she’s not done yet.

A Waco High School senior has been accepted to three Ivy League schools and will attend Harvard University in the fall, where she plans to pursue a career in law.

“I definitely had a lot of struggles uh growing up, but like regardless of that, it just kind of like motivated me to like keep on trying, to keep working hard to like get out of the place I’m in, to like help my family out and to grow from where I was, to not let my past define where I’m going to go in the future,” Mercado said.

Mercado, a first-generation college student, comes from a single-mother household and has three siblings. To help support her family, she works up to 25 hours a week at two part-time jobs. Even after work, she pulled all-nighters completing AP and dual credit coursework.

For Mercado, getting into an Ivy League school wasn’t something she ever imagined for herself.

“It just always seemed like something that just existed online and like in books and like in movies,” Mercado said.

Before leaving Waco, Mercado is reflecting on the legacy she leaves behind at Waco High — in sports, band, and as class president.

“I’m really proud to be like a Latina and be able to accomplish all these things,” Mercado said.

She also hopes her story encourages others in her community.

“We are great people, we are, academic achievers, we are like leaders in this world and so being able to break those stereotypes and to go against that narrative is really rewarding,” Mercado said.

Her message to students who want to follow a similar path is direct.

“If you really want to like outgrow and like to go out, I would say like they need to go out and get it,” Mercado said.

As a Bill Gates Scholar, Mercado will no longer need to work two jobs to support herself through school. She credits her counselors and teachers for their support, and her older sister, who she says encouraged and inspired her to stay motivated.

After law school, Mercado hopes to offer a scholarship or start a foundation to help first-generation students like herself achieve higher education. She said she wants to use her career in law to support families who have faced the same systems she grew up navigating.

“I saw how systems impacted me and my family, and I just want to be someone that helps families like me. I want to be someone that gives hope for families,” Mercado said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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