Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Robel Okbe was recently named into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society’s All-Arizona Academic Team.
Robel Okbe embodies life as a student under one Maricopa. He is currently enrolled in GateWay Community College as well as in Phoenix College and South Mountain Community College. For Okbe, attending college in the United States has been the culmination of a long process.
“I am from Eritrea, which is located in the Northeastern Coast of Africa, by the Red Sea,” says Okbe. “I moved to the US at the end of 2009. When you first move to a different country, it’s not easy. The first year it was a challenge but a good experience.”
By the spring of 2011, Okbe felt settled in and it was time to begin his pursuit of a higher education degree. He found that the Maricopa Community Colleges offered the classes he wanted with the level of attention he needed, and at a price he could afford. One of the advantages he found at GateWay was that smaller class-sizes offered him a level of personal attention he could not find anywhere else.
“I found the teachers at GateWay are more than willing to help you,” he says.
Okbe has been successful in his schooling and currently works hard to maintain a 4.0 GPA. He also gives back to his GateWay community and beyond.
He is currently vice president of leadership for the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, a member of the World Explorer Club as well as the Black Student Union. He has also found a way to directly help new students by becoming a tutor in anatomy and physiology and volunteering to be a peer mentor. He also volunteers at Banner Good Samaritan family pharmacy. This helps him learn more about his career path at the same time he helps others.
He plans to pursue a career in pharmacology and will be transferring to the University of Arizona in Tucson in the fall. He wishes to focus on research as a way to help his community.
“Every drug has a side effect and their cost seems to be rising. I want to do research to produce better drugs at lower cost,” he says.
Being a part of the All-Arizona Academic Team means he receives a 60-credit scholarship to be able to finish his bachelor’s degree.
“I was so happy because it was a very competitive year and I was glad to receive it,” he says with a smile. “It is a blessing to get a scholarship like this.”
To learn more about GateWay's transfer option, please visit www.gatewaycc.edu/transfer.