Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
‘I’M GRADUATING WITH EVERYTHING I NEED’
Once looking at a dismal future, now sky’s the limit for Reading man
Giovanni Negron-Garcia was a pretty good student growing up in Reading.
He was energetic and enthusiastic, curious and always asking questions. He loved to talk, to tell stories.
At Reading High, where he graduated in 2017, he was class president.
But despite all of that, a teenage Negron-Garcia didn’t think his education would extend past high school. Even though he enjoyed school, loved learning, his family simply didn’t have the money for college.
“Originally, I had no plans for college because of the financials,” he said. “I was ready for a conversation with my parents where they would tell me I
couldn’t go. I had no route.”
Kutztown University stepped in and changed that.
The school offered NegronGarcia a Board of Governors Scholarship — which he applied for — meaning his Kutztown tuition would be covered.
“Kutztown opened the door for me to go to college,” he said. “When I got the news about the
scholarship, I cried. I cried with my parents, with my family. It’s something I’m so grateful for.”
Four years later, NegronGarcia, now 22, is preparing to leave Kutztown as a first-generation college graduate.
“At one point I had nothing. I grew up with nothing,” he said. “Now I’m graduating with everything I need to take on the world.
‘College is a privilege’
Negron-Garcia said he viewed college as his ticket out, the one path that could lead him out of poverty and toward a successful future. And he decided to make the most of it.
“I understood that college is a privilege and an honor,” he said. “I treated it that way for the past four years. When I was on this campus I decided I needed to make this my experience.”
So Negron-Garcia threw himself into pretty much everything and anything.
He joined clubs, he helped organize events like the Pennsylvania Latino Convention and campus galas.
And, starting as a freshmen, he served as a tour guide. That role helped him to learn all the ins and outs of Kutztown.
“I’ve definitely walked that campus many times,” he said.
It also put Negron-Garcia face to face with prospective students, some of whom found themselves in situations very similar to his own as he prepared to graduate from high school. He has taken it upon himself to share his story, to provide a bit of hope.
“Just because I thought college wasn’t a possibility didn’t mean it wasn’t,” he said. “So I’ve tried to open some doors.”
Negron-Garcia said he has been able to help a total of 11 students find their way to Kutztown by advocating for them with college administrators and connecting them with scholarship opportunities.
Motivating others
Negron-Garcia hasn’t just shared his story with prospective Kutztown students. It’s something he’s be doing since he was 15 years old.
He wanted other people to know that hurdles can be overcome, that where you start doesn’t have to be where you finish.
Negron-Garcia is partially deaf in his right ear. He was a chubby kid who got picked on. His family battled poverty.
But he didn’t let any of those things define him.
“I grew up poor. People kept doubting me,” he said. “I didn’t want other people to feel that way. I didn’t want them to feel like they couldn’t accomplish something because of what other people are saying.”
To spread that message, Negron-Garcia became a motivational speaker.
He talks about finding passion and purpose through hardships, about remembering that no matter how tough things get they’ll get better if you make yourself a believer first.
“When I started when I was 15 I wasn’t too good, obviously,” he said. “I was too young. But I’ve been doing it seriously over the last four years.”
Negron-Garcia has been invited to speak at colleges in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, at local high schools and even in Germany.
‘Open more doors’
When Negron-Garcia thinks about his future he tends to reflect on his past.
He thinks about what would have happened if he had never gotten a scholarship to Kutztown, if a college education would have evaded him.
“What if I never got that scholarship?” he said. “I would have been miserable, let’s be honest. I’d probably be doing a job I don’t like, something I’m not passionate about.”
Negron-Garcia doesn’t want that fate to befall others.
That’s why the communications major who will graduate with a minor in sociology plans to continue his education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, enrolling in student affairs in the graduate program.
His goal is to then move into a job in college administration.
“I plan to take what I’ve learned and continue to open more doors for students who want to attend college,” he said. “Eventually, one day, I’d like to become the president of a university. If it gets that far.”
But before that happens, there’s a pretty important moment Negron-Garcia has to tackle first: graduating from Kutztown.
“Graduation day, it’s the next part of my family’s legacy,” he said. “It will probably be my parents’ highlight moment. My mom and dad gave up their dreams to see their kids grow.”
Negron-Garcia said that when he takes to the stage in May to accept his diploma everything that he’s been through in his life will probably be rushing through his mind.
“I’m going to be thinking about a little boy, a little boy who was picked on and was doubted,” he said. “And in my head I’ll say, ‘You did it. You made that boy a believer.’ “