Sienna Jones, 18, a senior at Masuk High School in Connecticut, was accepted into five Ivy League schools
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“I still am not fully comprehending the fact,” Sienna tells PEOPLE nearly three months later.
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When it came time to make a decision, she says choosing the community she wanted to be a part of was top of mind
When it came to the Ivy League lottery, one Connecticut high school student really hit the jackpot.
This past March, Sienna Jones, an 18-year-old senior at Masuk High School, learned that she was accepted into five Ivy League schools: Harvard, Brown, Cornell, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania.
“I still am not fully comprehending the fact,” Sienna tells PEOPLE nearly three months later. “It's definitely a great feeling overall.”
Lisa Jones, 46, a nurse and Sienna's mom, says that the word “proud” doesn't begin to describe how she feels.
“She is so dedicated and motivated in everything she does," Lisa says. "Even though it was a surprise for her to be accepted to so many great schools, it is not hard to believe."
“It was a special moment for us to all be together as a family and Sienna's closest friends when she opened her acceptances,” Lisa adds. “There was lots of yelling and running outside. Not to mention tears on my part.”
Sienna says that she started the application process last summer. Ultimately, one thing each of the 28 schools she applied to had in common was a sense of community.
“I was just trying to get a good scope of what each school had to offer,” Sienna, whose story was first reported by Fox affiliateWTICand theCTPost, says. “Doing my research, that was really important.”
However, Sienna actually didn't visit the Ivy League schools she got into, mostly because she just didn't expect she'd actually get into them.
In the end, she chose Harvard University, which is about three hours away from where she lives in Monroe.
“I really like Boston as an area,” Sienna explains. “It's my favorite city, so I just thought that being in that location would be good for my major and my goals. But also, I feel like the community there is really, really good.”
Sienna says she has her late father, who died unexpectedly when she was in middle school, to thank for helping her realize the importance of working hard in school from a young age.
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“He always instilled in us the importance of school,” Sienna says. “So I kind of just held onto that."
As Sienna started taking "classes that were a little harder" she "realized that I really liked them and wanted to try more."
Penny Ploski, Sienna's guidance counselor, describes her as both modest and amazing.
“She had built this whole AP government — which she was in at the time in 10th grade — website for review that she shared with her peers, and her own teacher didn't know that,” Ploski says. "She just did it and shared it to help them prep."
Even when she's at home, Sienna can't help but set a good example. “Being the oldest of four siblings, Sienna is always the leader,” Lisa says. “Her brothers look up to her even when they won't admit it!”
When she's not hitting the books, the teen can be found in the pool — she's the captain of the varsity swim team and also works as a lifeguard — and taking part in band as well as the school's honor society.
“Honestly, there's definitely not enough hours in the day for doing all these things,” she says. “But I think in the end it really helped my time management skills to balance between school and working a job and doing sports.”
After graduating high school next month, Sienna will prepare to start school in late August, where she'll start on an educational journey that, at least right now, will hopefully end in a law career.
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"As her mom, I'm beyond excited for her to begin her next chapter,” Lisa says. “And knowing I'm close enough to drop off some cookies when she needs them and be back home by dinner, but far enough away for her to be an independent baby adult does take away some of the sting of her leaving to college.”
As for what she hopes people can learn from her story, Sienna says it's that getting into the school of your dreams is possible, but it "takes a lot of hard work to get there."
“Take every assignment and try their best on it or with anything they do — just try your best in general, because you can get really good yields out of that,” she says.
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