With nearly $1 million in scholarship offers, Chris Vuturo had the luxury of choice when it came time to pick a college.
Valedictorian, civic volunteer, newspaper columnist, athlete - Vuturo had a perfect 4.0 grade-point average at De Sales High School. He scored 33 out of a possible 36 on the American College Test and a combined 1,350 out of a possible 1,600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test."He was always thinking ahead of us - teachers as well as students," said Tony Medley, who was Vuturo's journalism teacher.
He applied to numerous colleges and received scholarships and invitations to attend Harvard University, the University of Southern California, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Boston University, and Georgetown University, among others.
All told, he said, he was offered $885,782 worth of scholarships, based on current tuition rates.
He had dreamed about aeronautical engineering since childhood. Then he started working for the student newspaper and thought about pursuing a career in journalism. Lately, he's been thinking about a combination of genetics and law.
Vuturo decided on Harvard, thinking it would give him room to explore some or all those fields. The scholarship package from Harvard is worth about $68,000 over four years, and that plus some of his own savings would cover about three-quarters of the cost.
The rest will come from other scholarships, including a National Merit Scholarship and a Jefferson County Farm Bureau Scholarship.
Teachers and students describe Vuturo as a ferocious competitor in the classroom. But they also said he's among the first to volunteer to tutor other students.
"I always saw his presence in the class as a positive catalyst to other students," said Richard Knoop, who taught him biology and German.
Vuturo is the youngest of six children of Salvador and Jean Vuturo. The Vuturos said Chris, who received a partial scholarship to attend the Roman Catholic high school, couldn't have gone to college without aid.