When Bronx native Emely Abrigo Barrera ’24 thinks back to her younger self, she remembers a quieter, more closed-off girl who was hesitant to participate in her high school’s activities, much less volunteer for leadership roles.
It’s a far cry from how the Marymount Manhattan community views her. At MMC, Barrera has built a reputation as a go-to events manager: She organizes and hosts student functions, co-manages a Wellness Wednesday program, and, between classes, fits in an internship with a wedding planner. She’s also a familiar face at the Intercultural Center, where she serves as a capacity intern and is a member of MMC’s chapter of Tri-Alpha, an honor society for first-gen college students.
“I have definitely evolved,” said Barrera, a fashion marketing major and communications minor. And for her and dozens of other MMC students, that kind of growth has been made possible by the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and its new Professional Development Fund. “It all stems from there,” she said.
In response to MMC’s shift to the Virtual Classes/Open Campus model of learning, the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) has revamped its services to adapt to the current climate and to keep the HEOP community informed and engaged on critical topics. Many of the practices implemented during the Spring 2020 semester continued on throughout the Fall 2020 semester—as highlighted in the program’s most recent newsletter.