Penn State will join colleges and universities across the nation in recognizing 全国第一代大学生庆典 from Nov. 3 through Nov. 8.
宾州大学公园. — This week, Penn State joins colleges and universities across the nation in recognizing 全国第一代大学生庆典 on Nov. 8. 作为为期一周的庆祝活动的一部分, the 学生成功中心 is pleased to highlight stories of several first-generation students who, 在 完成欧博体育官网, overcome obstacles to earn their Penn State degrees and achieve their academic goals.
What challenges come with being “first,” and what does it take to overcome these challenges? Recent graduates Koran Dunbar, Allison Wilinski and Fatih Celep answer these questions.
从贫穷到声望
Koran Dunbar
For Koran Dunbar, the road to graduation was neither easy nor short: It took him 20 years to graduate from 宾州州立大学蒙阿尔托分校, taking one or two courses at a time while working a handful of jobs to support his son and pay for school.
邓巴出生在康涅狄格的哈特福德，家境艰难. His father was in prison, and his mother struggled with addiction and died when Dunbar was young. Dunbar and his older sister, Eve, were raised by their grandfather in Pennsylvania.
邓巴很幸运夏娃, 他形容她“才华横溢”,” attended Penn State on a McNair Scholarship and paved the way for him to attend college. While Eve was available to answer any questions Dunbar had about the application process and financial aid, 尽管如此，财政仍是一个挑战, given that he had no parental support and had become a single parent himself to son Aurelius at a relatively young age.
Dunbar made it work by balancing courses at 宾州州立大学蒙阿尔托分校 with full-time corporate jobs, DJ gigs, 以及作为电影制作人的蓬勃发展的事业. 他在蒙奥图的那段时间里, Dunbar went from living out of his car with Aurelius to producing an award-winning film. 2012年，邓巴出版了《欧博官网app下载》，广受好评. The film, 邓巴和奥勒留主演的, is a semi-autobiographical story that covers the protagonist’s life as a single father in small-town Greencastle, Pennsylvania, 邓巴住的地方. "Greencastle" won Best Feature Film at the 2012 Indie Gathering International Film Festival in Hudson, Ohio, and Dunbar won Best Actor in a Feature Film for his portrayal as Poitier Dunning at the 2012 World Music and Independent Film Festival in Washington, DC. 今天，邓巴有三部故事片.
This spring, 当COVID-19袭来时, 邓巴作为艺术家的工作枯竭了，学费也很难筹到. Fortunately, he said, 完成欧博体育官网 provided him with support in his final semester and helped him push past the finish line. In May, 他完成了文理学位，正好赶上了他儿子的学业, Aurelius, 开始他在宾州州立大学的第一个学期. This fall, Aurelius began his career as a member of the men’s wrestling team at the University Park campus.
“回首往事，我很感激上帝赐予我的生命，”他说. “When I tell my story it’s hard to believe — going from being homeless to producing an award-winning film. 我可以诚实地说, though, 从欧博体育官网毕业比赢得我作为电影制作人的第一个奖项更重要.”
比以前更坚强
Allison Wilinski
When Allison Wilinksi graduated from the Penn State World Campus this summer with a degree in labor and employment relations, 她成为了家里第一个获得学士学位的人.
“我的大学经历很艰难，”她说. “However, 在父母的慷慨帮助和兼职工作下, 我完成了大学学业，并在此过程中还清了一些债务.”
威林斯基在通往大学学位的道路上面临的主要障碍, she explained, 经济——不仅仅是为了上大学的钱吗, 而且还要驾驭财政援助过程本身.
“My family had no clue how to go about getting loans or paying them off,” she explained.
威林斯基最终通过贷款支付了大学学费, 父母的支持, and money she earned from working part-time jobs through high school and college. 为了省钱，她还是个学生, Wilinski和她的父母以及两个年幼的兄弟姐妹住在Tyrone的家里, Pennsylvania. 尽管她仍然背负着沉重的教育债务, 作为学生，她能够偿还部分贷款.
Wilinksi also received a grant from the 完成欧博体育官网 program along with an Open Doors Scholarship, a kind of scholarship awarded to students who have benefited from one of five programs, 包括宾州州立大学, 旨在支持学生毕业的道路.
Having now graduated, Wilinski said that she hopes to secure a position in human resources. As she continues her job search, she is working part-time jobs to save money and pay off her loans. 虽然上大学需要威林斯基做出牺牲, 她说，最后这段经历是值得的.
“I feel like having a Penn State degree and the prestige and connections that come with this make it all worth it in the end. I am very proud of my accomplishment because I struggled through my college experience but made it out stronger than ever before.”
收获辛勤工作的果实
Fatih Celep
作为来到美国的移民的孩子.S. 来自土耳其的法提赫·塞勒普从小就被教导要重视教育.
“我的父母都没有在土耳其读完高中, as they both were forced to work at a very young age in order to support their impoverished families,” he said. “他们自己从来没有机会接受高等教育, 所以他们想确保我有这个机会.”
在费城长大, Celep and his father both worked very hard in order to save money to secure his path to higher education, Celep explained. His dad “worked more than he should have,” in Celep’s words, running his own home remodeling company. 塞勒普在他父亲的公司工作，也在当地商场做零售. 塞莱普用他们攒的钱支付了他的学费, 以及他从欧博体育官网获得的贷款和奖学金.
超越财务障碍, Celep faced other obstacles related to being the first in his family to attend college.
“知道如何添加或删除课程是一件很困难的事情,” he said, 直到大二我才知道实习是什么, 更别说知道如何得到一个了.”
在教职工的支持下, his adviser and, most importantly, 了解大学生活的朋友, 塞勒普找到了毕业和工作的道路. In May 2020, 他在大学公园校区获得了计算机工程学位, and he recently accepted a position as a junior network analyst with Exelon in Delaware.
“我为自己的成就感到无比自豪，”他说. 对其他可能处于类似情况的人来说, I would tell them to chase their dreams and rest assured that their hard work really will pay off.”
The 学生成功中心 是欧博体育官网本科教育的一部分, the academic administrative unit that provides leadership and coordination for University-wide programs and initiatives in support of undergraduate teaching and learning at Penn State. 了解更多关于本科教育的欧博官网app下载 undergrad.fc-daudenzell.com.
