As a high school student, Elijah Toby had his sights set on attending a big-city college. The fast-paced lifestyle and exciting atmosphere of an urban area appealed to him.<\/p>\n
He changed his mind the first time he visited East Stroudsburg University.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had my first visit and started to realize I might not be that \u2018big city\u2019 type of guy,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI liked the smaller campus and nice community. I just felt right\u2014it felt like home. The campus was big enough where there was a lot to do, but small enough that it feels like family. You really get to know the professors and other students. It made my choice easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
A computer science major wrapping up his senior year at ESU, Toby, of Folcroft, Pa., is planning his next chapter. He has accepted a job offer with a technology company in Arizona. He jokingly said it will take time to adjust to the weather out West after years of living in Pennsylvania. In the long-term, Toby plans to return to his native Liberia and kickstart that country\u2019s tech industry. \u201cLiberia doesn\u2019t have much of a foundation in this industry. Knowing what I know, I feel it\u2019s right to give back to the people who have given me so much,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
Looking back on his years at ESU, getting involved in various campus clubs and organizations made a big difference in his college experience. \u201cAfter my first semester, I still wasn\u2019t sure if I liked the Poconos,\u201d he admits. \u201cI gave it a chance. I got more involved.\u201d Among other activities, Toby was a peer mentor\/peer educator, which helped him develop critical leadership skills. Joining the African Students Association gave him the opportunity to discuss issues affecting the continent. \u201cBeing able to talk to different people who don\u2019t necessarily share the same belief system, we find common ground and understanding. I am probably better prepared for life after college than ever before.\u201d He adds, \u201cESU has tried to bridge the gap between departments and student\/faculty to network and communicate with people. It has definitely helped my college experience in general.\u201d He was also a member of the University Honors Program, Black Student Union, Men of Color Alliance, and the Computer Science Organization.<\/p>\n
Toby was one of the recipients of this year\u2019s ESU Boddie Scholarship. To apply, Toby had to compose an essay describing his commitment to social justice through community and university involvement. \u201cIt definitely made things a lot easier financially,\u201d he said. \u201cI had some grants and scholarships when I started at ESU, but they weren\u2019t enough to cover all the costs. I was told my parents would have to take out a Parents Plus loan.\u201d As both of his parents work two jobs to support Toby and his siblings, he didn\u2019t want to add to their financial burden. \u201cThe scholarships helped lower my stress so I could focus on my academics and do what I have to do. They helped me in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toby offers this advice to current and future ESU students: \u201cGet involved, get involved, get involved! It opened so many doors for me. I\u2019ve met amazing faculty members, community leaders, and businesspeople who I otherwise wouldn\u2019t have known. Being involved has given me skill sets I probably wouldn\u2019t have gotten by reading a book or studying in the library. College is more than going to class and spending time in your room\u2014it\u2019s supposed to teach you about the real world. It\u2019s definitely given me the skill sets to navigate certain situations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A computer science major wrapping up his senior year at ESU, Toby, of Folcroft, Pa., is planning his next chapter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":22445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22443"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22447,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22443\/revisions\/22447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}