- [Jennifer] It's rolling?
What's up?
(laughs)
Something unexpected about me...
Well, one time,
I went into Gwinn [dining hall]
and I had my Ziploc bag,
and I got caught
stealing a sandwich!
- [Off screen] Okay,
let's not use that one!
- Okay.
(laughs)
I'm Jennifer Long,
and I'm a first generation
college graduate.
I chose Seattle Pacific
because of the academics
and the food, of course,
and because it was in Seattle.
I was a transfer student
from another university,
and to help out with finances,
I got a work study job
as an admissions intern.
Besides my financial aid,
I was able to learn how to budget
through the help of the
Center for Career and Calling.
Figuring out what I
should spend my money on,
whether that's going out with friends,
or spending money on food,
or just miscellaneous things.
I experienced a lot of hardships
my first year of college,
and so, I found community in my dorm room,
lots of people from different backgrounds.
Late night talks, getting
to know each other,
studying together.
Thinking back, freshman year,
and not knowing where we were going,
what to major in, what
life was going to be like,
and now we're...
we're all kind of grown up.
we all have jobs,
doing things that we love,
it's just really exciting
and even coming from
a Christian background
in a faith environment
here at Seattle Pacific,
and knowing how they're
impacting their community.
It's exciting to see.
My mom and my dad were both
refugees from Cambodia,
and they decided to escape their hometown
and the war at the time, to
come to the United States
to find my brothers and I a better life.
They kept telling me,
"Jennifer, we don't want you
to work as hard as we do.
We want you to go to college
to get an education."
and I remember my graduation,
I invited everyone I knew.
I think I had about 50 tickets.
I remember meeting them
for pictures afterwards,
and everyone's crying, I'm crying,
and it was just
a moment that they've been
dreaming for so long for me,
and so, for me to give that back to them,
to accomplish their dream,
to come to the United
States was something I'll,
I'll always cherish.
(guitar music)
