Douglas Correa Ospina says that if his family hadn鈥檛 settled in Lowell, he might never have gone to college.
Fortunately, he鈥檇 taken English classes at school in Medell铆n, Colombia, before his family immigrated to the United States when he was 15. At Lowell High School, he studied hard and got help applying for scholarships to UMass Lowell.(He got the Unitas Scholarship.)聽
鈥淚 would not be who I am today if we hadn鈥檛 come to Lowell,鈥� he says.
And who is he today? Correa Ospina, a first-generation college student, is a junior in the Honors College. He鈥檚 double-majoring in economics and psychology. In the future, he hopes to help immigrants and other people from marginalized groups gain access to the education and resources they need to become more financially secure.
鈥淚nequality is so pervasive that it鈥檚 systemic, and that鈥檚 where economics comes in,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also a personal issue that affects people and families, and that鈥檚 where psychology comes in.鈥�
He鈥檚 also an Emerging Scholar, doing research with Biomedical Engineering Asst. Teaching Prof. Yanfen Li in a first-year engineering design class. They have seniors acting as project managers for teams of new students, and they want to find out if first-year women students feel more confident when their project manager is also a woman.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to find out what kinds of things develop leadership skills in engineers, and also how first-year students develop their identity as engineers,鈥� he explains.
Correa Ospina is vice president of the club swim and dive team. He鈥檚 also vice president of the Latin American Student Association, or LASA, where he鈥檚 working with LASA president Juana Guerrero to make the organization a resource center for Latinx and Hispanic students.
They organized a major networking event for undergraduates in fall 2021, bringing together alumni, graduate students and the dean of Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, Luis Falc贸n, for panels on careers and graduate school.
鈥淲e wanted them to be able to ask questions of someone who looks like them and has been able to advance as a Hispanic person,鈥� he says.
Outside the university, Correa Ospina has a job as a 鈥渦niversal banker鈥� at Salem 5, where he helps customers open accounts, apply for loans and transact business. He also has a per diem job as a case manager in a program for men who have alcohol and substance use disorders. He says that job has taught him compassion.
鈥淪ome of the stories they tell me are heartbreaking,鈥� he says. 鈥淩ecovery is a complex process, and it鈥檚 not easy.鈥�
That compassion and his bilingual skills will be useful in the work Correa Ospina plans to do after graduation: helping to lower some of the economic barriers facing immigrant families and their children. He鈥檚 going on for a master鈥檚 degree in finance through the Bachelor鈥檚-to-Master鈥檚 Program.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e an immigrant or a first-generation college student, sometimes there鈥檚 a language barrier along with the lack of education and resources that you have,鈥� he says.
鈥淚mmigrating is like starting anew. Your priority is having a roof over your head, getting a job and getting food on the table. People don鈥檛 understand how hard it is.鈥�