Rosvin and Amber Recinos had a goal: Go back to school together and try to graduate together.
They achieved their goal, as they both got to wear their blue graduation caps and gowns during Penn State's summer commencement ceremony for undergraduate students on Saturday, August 10.
The Recinos were among the more than 900 Penn State World Campus students who officially graduated from Penn State in the summer semester of 2024. They were also among the more than 100 who came to the University Park campus in State College, Pennsylvania, to take part in the official commencement ceremony for summer graduates.
The Recinos traveled to Pennsylvania from Asunción, Paraguay, where Rosvin is stationed with the Army at the U.S. Embassy.
Rosvin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Amber graduated with a Bachelor of Design in Digital Multimedia Design.
The Recinos took the leap together in 2019. Rosvin had completed an associate degree from another university, and Amber had some prior college. They knew it would be a challenge, but they were encouraged to do it together.
"I had been wanting to go back for a while," Rosvin said.
"Could we do this and also graduate at the same time?" Amber said.
They spent the past five years working toward their degrees together while balancing their families and jobs. They have four children, and earlier this year, they got to see their oldest graduate from high school.
Another graduate, Adrianna Sabbagh, traveled with her family from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to attend commencement.
Sabbagh graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biobehavioral Health, which is offered online by the Penn State College of Health and Human Development. Sabbagh was named the college's student marshal, as she had the highest grade-point average among all of its graduating students.
Sabbagh graduated from high school in 2020 during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. She chose to go to college online because of the flexibility it provided her to live at home while getting her degree.
"I chose Penn State because it has a long history of online education, since 1998," she said. "I thought it would be the best choice."
During her undergraduate studies, Sabbagh completed the Smart Track to Success scholarship program, which aims to help students new to higher education successfully navigate their first year of learning online. She also participated in research through the lab of Professor William Horton, whom she got to meet on graduation weekend.
Sabbagh said the decision to attend graduation was an easy one. She couldn't attend her high school graduation four years ago because of the pandemic.
"It's a culmination of four years of hard work," she said.
Melville Brooks officially completed the course work for his master's degree in December of 2023, but he could not make the trip from his home in the Philippines to Pennsylvania until this summer.
He works as the director of talent management for a transnational company that focuses on revenue cycle management in health care.
Brooks graduated with a Master of Professional Studies in Organization Development and Change. It is his third master's degree, and he would like to continue his education by pursuing a doctoral degree.