From Foster Care to Medical School
Dutchmen First
was started
last fall to help first-generation LVC students succeed and retain at higher rates. The program is led by former LVC football coach Vince Pantalone P’11, P’15, coor-
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Terrence
Habiyaremye needed some guidance in
dinator of retention and support.
Habiyaremye ’17 entered foster care
navigating the unfamiliar environment.
These first-generation students
Habiyaremye found a mentor in Dr. Erica
learn about topics important to
Unger ’98, assistant professor of biology
their adjustment and success at
and director of LVC’s Neuroscience
The Valley. The students also
Program. She, herself, had been a
are paired with a faculty or staff
first-generation college student at LVC
mentor who shares their first-
and understands the challenges that
generation experience and advice
he and students like him face. With Dr.
during luncheons and other gath-
Unger’s mentorship and the support of
erings. Students who complete the
with his younger sister, Alice, when he was just four years old. Life in the system was uncertain and unstable—he attended three different schools in second grade alone—until a family from Harrisburg adopted him. Habiyaremye’s parents are Rwandan refugees who wanted to “pay forward” the opportunity they had been given to succeed in the U.S. They supported their son as he excelled academically and athletically at Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, Pa., and cheered him on as he enrolled in Lebanon Valley College’s biology and pre-medical programs and joined the track & field and cross country teams. But they were unacquainted with the demands and complexities of American higher education, and
many across LVC’s campus, Habiyaremye thrived. Today, he attends Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine with the
Twenty-six students participated
practice emergency medicine.
in the inaugural cohort ending
“Entering college, I too was naïve about
GPA of 3.18. In comparison, 61
college and after graduation,” Unger says.
first-generation students chose
She has as many as 10 students conduct
not to participate in the program,
research with her each year. “We discuss
and this group had an average
a lot of everyday things, but also have
GPA of 2.79. Due to this early
lengthy discussions about goals and ca-
success, the College is encour-
reer aspirations,” Unger says, noting that
aging ALL students who qualify
it is one of the most rewarding aspects of
to participate, and holding an
her job. “Having attended graduate school
advancement effort to raise schol-
mentorship for undergraduates is not a
Dr. Kristen Boeshore ’92, Dr. Robert Carey,
priority, the mentoring we offer at LVC is
16
THE VALLEY
the fall semester with an average
the opportunities that I would have in
(l. to r.) LVC Science Faculty and Emeriti:
Dr. Dale Erskine, Dr. Courtney Lappas
$500 renewable scholarship.
goal of returning to the Harrisburg area to
at a much larger university where faculty
Dr. Erica Unger ’98, Dr. Walter Patton,
Dutchmen First program receive a
unique and genuine.”
arships to support Dutchmen First students.