Allen Cardenas
- UNO Senior
- Business Administration
About Allen Cardenas
"Being a first-generation student has never been easy. Coming out of high school there are a lot of unknown variables. Sometimes, you have so many questions that you have no idea what the answers are, so you spend hours looking and don’t know where to even start.""At one point, I was not sure if I was going to be able to attend college right out of high school due to financial reasons. Prior to starting at UNO, I received the opportunity of a lifetime when I was selected to be a part of the Jim & Shirley Young Scholars Program that gave me tremendous support and lots of help with continuing my education."
"With this support, all of my questions small or big were answered with clarity and that gave me peace of mind. Sometimes when I was struggling, others around my home environment could not understand why. It was very hard at times trying to explain how stressful everything could be."
"However, the Young Scholars Program has supported me every step of the way. Recently, I was offered an opportunity to be a Peer Mentor for the UNO Success Academy. I wanted to help because of all the support I have received along the way, and what better way than to help students that were in the same situation that I was once in. One of the best quotes I like to live by is, 'We are not motivated, we are driven.' That goes for every first-generation student."