Meet Oscar Diaz, a senior at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute who, through the QuestBridge Match Scholarship, will attend the Ivy League school Columbia University in Fall 2026.
This Progress Report story is the first in a series profiling students receiving a full four-year scholarship, worth over $325,000, through the QuestBridge National College Match.
Read about Oscar's QuestBridge story.
My story begins not through words, but through my family’s hands.
My grandmother’s hands were the first I ever noticed. Dry, rough, and strong. Her hands folded estopillas, kneaded cheese, scrubbed floors, and carried the weight of past generations. My parents’ hands were the same, callused from decades of work and the endless labor of starting over in a new country. Each pair of hands represents tangible proof of sacrifice, resilience, and love.
Then there are my hands. Smooth and small. With my hands, I learned the rhythm of their labor, responsibility, and care. Although soft, my hands were just as important and soon became the bridge between their hands and the new world, translating forms, letters, and documents I barely understood. Knowing one misread date or one small mistake would result in seeing my mother cry, not in anger, but exhaustion. The weight from my hands fused with my spine, my skin, my blood. What felt like pressure soon became my driving force. It was leadership. Leadership, I realized, is not a title. It’s the careful work of holding others’ lives in your own hands with attention, intention, and empathy.
QuestBridge is the continuation of using my hands to uphold my family’s legacy. It is a way for my hands to open doors my parents never had access to. For my family, it is proof that their sacrifices were not invisible. For me, it is both validation and a challenge: to explore uncharted spaces, to lift others as I climb, and to turn potential into action.
Growing up, curiosity often felt like a luxury I could not afford. I had to grow up faster than my peers—speak differently, act differently, carry burdens I did not fully understand. Baltimore Polytechnic Institute changed that. It gave me room to grow while meeting the person I was becoming.
With my hands, I founded The Giving Back Foundation, an organization dedicated to connecting students to civic service, STEAM initiatives, and microgrant programs, impacting nearly 5,000 students across the city of Baltimore through various mediums. I did not want others to face the same barriers my family did. Every field trip, workshop, and grant required empathy, organization, and leadership that created opportunities for others. Knowing I could not be everywhere at once, I began creating civic toolkits. Clear, accessible guides that showed students how to advocate for their communities, navigate systems, and turn concern into action. What started as a response to my own limits became a philosophy: real change happens when people are given the tools to lead themselves.
College is a new frontier, one where I can combine my obsession with research, civic engagement, and mentorship to explore solutions far beyond what I have imagined. My hands will leave a legacy where imagination, resilience, and service intersect.