“My scholarship allowed me to come back to Penn State and finish my degree. It changed my life.”
Hometown: Apollo, Pennsylvania. It’s located in a rural area about forty minutes outside of Pittsburgh.
Major: I’m earning my bachelor of science degree in Biological Engineering.
Scholarship Experience: I’ve pretty much been supporting myself since I was eighteen; my parents have never really been able to contribute financially. I was taking a full course load—twelve credits each semester—at Penn State while working full-time as a union laborer doing masonry and bricklaying. The work was very physically demanding and left me with little or no time or energy to complete the required work for my classes, and my grades were dropping. I ended up having to withdraw to try to save up some money. I didn’t want to leave, and I was determined to return and finish my degree. However, even after working for a year and a half, I still couldn’t afford to reenroll.
Then my luck changed. Penn State gave me a scholarship award of almost $4,000, created out of the University-wide Future Fund, and that paid for nearly half of my tuition. I was able to reenroll this past spring, and now I’ll be graduating in December—I’m really excited. This scholarship has helped me tremendously. In the absence of this aid, there’s a really good possibility that I wouldn’t have been able to return to Penn State and get my degree. I like to say that no matter how many books are in my book bag, it’ll never be as heavy as carrying bricks!
Career Ambitions: My scholarship has opened up so many opportunities. I believe that the world is in dire need of intelligent and passionate engineers, and I’d like to continue my education here at Penn State by earning a master’s degree and then become a natural resource protection and management engineer. My dream is eventually to start my own consulting firm here in Pennsylvania, and I’m well on my way now.
Message to Alumni and Friends: There are many challenges facing returning adult learners, and balancing academic demands with financial obligations can be intensely difficult. Based on my personal experience, I’ve realized that no matter how intelligent or hard-working an individual may be, these challenges can be overwhelming. But funds for scholarships can make all the difference to students like me. My award allowed me to come back to Penn State and finish my degree; it changed my life. I’m glad to tell people my story because it had a happy ending.
