By Rene David Basulto - Monsignor Edward Pace HS
![From left, Msgr. Edward Pace High School seniors Samantha Bacerio, Maya Lora, Mia Lama, Sabrina Ortega, and Naja Murphy, part of the school's elite Spartan Sword and Shield Honors program. Not pictured: Mia Bravo and Daniel Labrousse.](https://www.miamiarch.org/Atimo_s/articles_images/2016/04/Spartan_Sword_and_Shield_750w_1460584074.jpg)
Photographer: Rene D. Basulto
From left, Msgr. Edward Pace High School seniors Samantha Bacerio, Maya Lora, Mia Lama, Sabrina Ortega, and Naja Murphy, part of the school's elite Spartan Sword and Shield Honors program. Not pictured: Mia Bravo and Daniel Labrousse.
MIAMI GARDENS | Seven seniors from Msgr. Edward Pace High School’s elite Spartan Sword and Shield honors program have been accepted into 31 colleges and universities across the United States.
The program is structured to prepare intellectually gifted and diligent students for Ivy League and Top 10 universities through a set four-year track of AP, honors, and dual enrollment classes. Since the program’s inception in 2011, Spartan Sword and Shield graduates have been accepted into six of the eight Ivy League schools, and 28 of the top 50 schools in the U.S.
Seniors Mia Lama, Samantha Bacerio, Sabrina Ortega, Daniel Labrousse, Maya Lora, Mia Bravo, and Naja Murphy will be the latest Spartan Sword and Shield members to graduate, and they will have a plethora of colleges and universities to choose from. Between all the seven of them, they have been accepted into the following colleges: Agnes Scott College, American University, Bard College, Boston College, Brandeis University, Brown University, Case Western Reserve University, College of William and Mary, Cornell University, Dartmouth University, Duke University, Florida International University, Florida State University, Fordham University, George Washington University, Indiana University Bloomington, Mount Holyoke College, New College of Florida, New York University, Oxford College of Emory University, Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Smith College, Stetson University, Texas Christian University, University of Chicago, University of Miami, University of Florida, Vassar College, Vanderbilt University, Washington and Lee University, and Wellesley College.
![Daniel Labrousse](https://www.miamiarch.org/Atimo_s/articles_images/2016/04/Daniel_Labrousse_300w_1460584073.jpg)
Photographer: Rene D. Basulto
Daniel Labrousse
![Mia Bravo](https://www.miamiarch.org/Atimo_s/articles_images/2016/04/Mia_Bravo_300w_1460584074.jpg)
Photographer: Rene D. Basulto
Mia Bravo