Verena Lake, a Dominican student, joined the Surveying Engineering Program at Penn State Wilkes-Barre and created history by becoming the first female Black student to do so. As part of Black History Month in the US, Eyewitness News, which serves Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania, and the newspaper PAhomepage highlighted Lake’s accomplishment.
The newspaper article stated that she did not follow the usual route to become a surveying engineer. It said that she obtained three associate degrees in Dominica: one in biology, one in physics, and one in geography. However, it was unclear what she intended to do with them.
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“Afterward I researched what can I do with the degrees that I have already and that’s how I found out about surveying engineering because it’s very physics and geography intensive,” Lake shared with the newspaper in a recent interview.
She had to overcome several obstacles before deciding to join the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus.
“I had to delay my acceptance because I had issues getting my visa so that was a battle and then I finally came as a sponsored student,” Lake noted.
The publication said that tuition was another issue she had to cope with.
“My home country was paying for my tuition and then there was a struggle with that because unfortunately the payments were not always made on time and so that caused…let’s just say I was at the bursar’s office a lot,” she shared.
As per PAhomepage, despite all the difficulties, Lake never gave up and was even permitted to attend courses by her lecturers.
After learning that she was the first female student of color to enroll in the program, the young girl expressed shock and astonishment.
“Wow, I remember the first time it was said to me. It was the Director of Student Affairs Wanda Ochei who told me and I was in disbelief,” She was cited as stating.
Although she stated she had conflicting emotions, she will graduate in May.
“A lot of different mix of emotions I was happy of course I felt honored to be the first and then the other side of that was wish I could share like it’s nice to be the first, but I wish there was a second or a third black woman that I could identify,” she told PAhomepage.
She offered some guidance to other students. “Just because you’ll be the first doesn’t mean it can’t be done so you’re probably the one who has to be the first to inspire others to let them know that yes they can do it,” she remarked.
Formerly, Verena Lake attended Dominica State College and Convent High School.
