As part of Penn State’s 2020 spring commencement activities, Christopher Abraham will represent the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese in the College of the Liberal Arts as its student marshal.
In response to the growing coronavirus pandemic, orders from the state government and recommendations from global public health organizations, Penn State will hold its spring 2020 commencement ceremony via livestream on May 9. The virtual ceremony will recognize all Penn State undergraduate students and all graduate students in the Penn State Graduate School.
Abraham, a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, will graduate with bachelor of arts degrees in Spanish and English. His faculty marshal is Susana Garcia-Prudencio, assistant teaching professor of Spanish.
During his time at Penn State, Abraham participated in several extracurricular activities. First, he was the president of the Spanish Immersion Club. His goal as president was to further the mission of the club to encapsulate values of forming community, sharing Hispanic and Latino cultures, and promoting Spanish language learning. Abraham earned his Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Certificate from Penn State while he studied abroad in Ecuador. Capitalizing on this skill, he served as an ESL tutor with the Central Intermediate Unit. Abraham was also proud to volunteer with Young Life, which is an organization committed to facilitating the spiritual growth of anyone, regardless of their personal beliefs and attitudes.
Abraham has accumulated an impressive list of awards. Among them are the Neal R. and Linda Seligman Stoll Scholarship, the Simpson-Marcher-Petersen Scholarship and the John W. Moore Jr. Undergraduate Award in English.
When reflecting on his experience as a liberal arts student, Abraham acknowledged the abundance of funding the College of the Liberal Arts offers students to engage in different experiences.
“The College of the Liberal Arts has been so generous to me over the years with funding,” he said. “Without this financial support, I would not have been able to take advantage of two study abroad programs, which were fantastic supplements to demanding coursework and dedicated faculty from both the English and Spanish departments.”
After graduation, Abraham will serve as a literacy coordinator in the Dominican Republic through the Peace Corps.
Abraham would like first-year students to know that being a liberal arts student is a great experience.
“I guess I would want incoming freshmen to know that they are simply in good and caring hands,” he said. “Within the College of the Liberal Arts, I have always found that there are people who want to help students succeed both academically and professionally. Remember how Garfield never met a lasagna he didn't like? That's how I have pretty much always felt around the students and faculty here.”
This is the 24th in a series of stories on the 24 student marshals representing the College of the Liberal Arts during the spring 2020 commencement activities.