All Yeabsira frost wanted was the chance to attend University of Pittsburgh. When the McDowell High School senior opened her mail though, she got an acceptance letter... and a full tuition scholarship.

"My whole side of the family has gone and graduated from Pitt so I just thought I would give it a shot," said Frost. "I didn't actually expect any money from there because I know it's challenging."

The university examines every first year application completed before December 1. Those with outstanding academics and compelling essays can qualify for merit scholarships,
which makes for exciting additions to acceptance letters for those awarded.

"So when I got that letter I was very shocked," said Frost. "I was like- there's no way. I didn't expect it to be real."

Frost plans to pursue computer engineering. She thinks her dedication to all things STEM since middle school made her application stand out... along with the story of her childhood.

"I actually came to America when I was 4 years old, so then I think the history of coming to America and then how I became interested... without any knowledge," said Frost. "Like I didn't even know the language of English before I was around that age. So being able to be inspired to do engineering in the field, definitely probably helped."

McDowell High School offered many programs that let frost put her love for engineering to practice-- from robotics teams to manufacturing labs that let students create products for local businesses.

"McDowell manufacturing can actually offer students to have machining certificates so then you can just go out of high school and work at a machine lab for companies." said Frost.

Yeabsira has her eye on a career as a computer analyst after university. Whatever future she chases, she has the determination to make it real.

"i actually find the struggle of trying to figure it out," said Frost. "I like that kind of difficulty."