Yaquelin Acosta, a firstgeneration senior at Arvin High School, made history for her family by earning admission to Yale University the first in her family to be accepted to college.Her bedroom wall is a testament to that achie vement: National Honor Society and honorroll certificates and firstplace ribbons line the room. Beating steep odds, Acosta secured a spot at the Ivy League school.Yale has always been one of my dream schools. I always wanted to get into one of the top three Ivies Harvard, Yale, or Princeton but I ultimately decided to apply early action to Yale, Acosta said.Restrictive early action is a non-binding application process that allows students to apply early to one top-choice private institution. Out of 7,140 early action applicants to Yale, 70% were denied admission. Out of nearly 55,000 total applications, just over 2,300 students were offered admission.Since ninth grade, Acosta challenged herself with rigorous, college-level Advanced Placement courses offered in high schools.I moved on to AP classes and honors classes around my sophomore engineer year and senior year. And yeah, I've been taking a lot of rigorous courses, Acosta said.Acosta's mother, Maria Guadalupe, is a Mexican native who has worked in the fields since arriving in the country. Acosta said this accomplishment means a lot to her family.It definitely feels like my parents' hard work has paid off because, you know, like, they come from like, field work and that kind of immigrant background. And so then it feels very accomplishing to be able to make them proud and to show that we can go far and we can go places, Acosta said.Im excited for her because shes going to accomplish her dreams, it was her dream to go a university, Guadalupe said.Our faith in God is what really has helped her reach her goals. Shes put in a lot of hard work but I know that God gave her the victory, Guadalupe said.Shes put in a lot of effort and as a mom it worries me because she doesnt get her 7-hours of sleep, but I know that its all worth it because now shes going to that university, Guadalupe said.Acosta has a passion for the arts and plans to major in theater, dance, and performance studies when she starts this fall.I want to specifically major in theater, dance and performance studies, and then I also hope to maybe double major or minor in math eventually pursue a master's degree in fine arts, so that would be fun, Acosta said.I want to be a director of any local plays or community plays, but also my huge dream is to be a Broadway director, Acosta 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.Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere: Download Our Free App for Apple and Android Sign Up for Our Daily E-mail Newsletter Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram Subscribe to Us on YouTube ...read more read less