Luna Marrero

San Jose State, Class of 2017

Although the 4 year graduation rate for first generation students at San Jose State is less than 7%, Luna graduated from San Jose State in 4 years with a major in psychology and a minor in business. While in college she worked about 20 hours a week and graduated with a 3.7 GPA. She is currently working at Google as technical recruiter on the diversity team.



While at San Jose State, Luna took full advantage of every opportunity. After freshman year she became an orienatation leader allowing her not only to get paid, but to register early for classes and get all the courses she needed to graduate on time.  Her junior year she was an RA (Resident Advisor) allowing her to get free room and board so she could save money to study abroad for part of the summer. During her senior year Luna had a 300 hour unpaid internship at the Justice Corps to get work experience in the legal field.  POE was able to pay her a stipend for the internship so she could cut back her paid work and graduate in 4 years with a major in psychology and a minor in business.  Below is the note Luna wrote after graduating in May of 2017. 

"I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to you for making the Pursuit of Excellence Scholarship possible.  I am deeply appreciative of your support these past four years.  My time in college was very rewarding due to the financial help and mentoring I had through POE.  Having the support and financial help allowed me to graduate in four years with top grades and great campus involvement.  This scholarship has allowed me to fulfill my dream of going to college and has permitted me to become a proactive member of society.  Currently, I am loving my new job at Skadden [a job at a law firm Luna got through networking with POE mentors] and I am still continuing to follow my dream of pursuing law school.  From the bottom of my heart I thank the Pursuit of Excellence Scholarship for encouraging me and teaching me that I can do anything I set my mind to.  I hope that one day I can give back to POE and encourage students like myself to strive for success and follow their dreams.  Thank you for this opportunity and for making an investment and believing in me.  I will continue to make you proud and I will work really hard to give back to others as you have all given to me."


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