Huseyin was born in Giresun, Turkey, a small city by the coast of the Black Sea, and his family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old. They resided in a small Turkish community in Edgewater Park, New Jersey for ten years before relocating to nearby Cherry Hill, a short train commute away from Philadelphia. While many of his high school classmates would go on to pursue specialized trades, Huseyin’s passion for helping people become the best versions of themselves, both physically and mentally, inspired him to study healthcare. When he was accepted to Penn’s School of Nursing, Huseyin became the first student from his school to be accepted to an Ivy League University in more than 150 years.
Huseyin’s Penn experience has been empowered by his drive to succeed and enriched by his deep gratitude for the undergraduate alumni donor community. The University’s policy of meeting 100% of demonstrated need has allowed him to attend without financial worry, and he aims to make a similar impact when he becomes a donor himself: “I’m really grateful to attend college without a financial burden so I can focus completely on my studies. In the future, I want to help someone like me with their education. I think it’s important to give back because I’ve been given so much.”
Huseyin has already made a difference within our campus community through his broad-ranging extracurricular involvement, which includes participation in Seniors for The Penn Fund, the Admissions Dean’s Advisory Board, Student Nurses of Penn, the Turkish Student Association, and his work study position in Penn Nursing’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations. This experience has further solidified his appreciation for alumni philanthropy and his desire to make a meaningful contribution to the undergraduate student experience: “I hope to one day make an impact by funding an endowed scholarship. This investment would live on for a lifetime, and it’s a great long-term way of giving back.”
Favorite Penn Class
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