Senior Aron Librea hasn’t wasted a minute since his family moved to the United States from the Philippines four years ago in search of greater economic opportunity.
"America has taught me that time is the most important thing in the world,” says the 22-year-old Weymouth resident. “But also that anything is possible.”
The honors finance major and Accounting Faculty Term Scholarship recipient spends his days in class and his nights working at a Brookline restaurant to help support his family. While serving as president of Suffolk’s chapter of the national accounting and finance honor society Beta Alpha Psi, he completed an internship with Boston financial giant John Hancock. Now he’s preparing for a spring 2023 internship with Deloitte.
Librea arrived in Massachusetts shortly after finishing high school in his home country, and honed his English skills working the early-morning drive-through at McDonald’s. He began his college career at Bunker Hill Community College, where he earned an associate’s degree in accounting.
Suffolk was his top choice to complete his undergraduate education, he says, because of its diversity and urban setting, and its reputation as a reliable gateway to career opportunities in Boston’s financial industry.
This summer he returned to the Philippines for the first time in four years, and the visit reinforced his gratitude for what he’s found in America and his desire to extend a hand to others. This fall he’ll be coaching other accounting undergrads on résumé building, networking, and interviewing skills. “I love helping people and sharing what I have,” he says. “I tell them nothing is impossible if you are willing to try.”
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Photography by Michael J. Clarke
FEATURES
| Fall 2022
By Erica Noonan
