“My goals all start with dreaming,” says Alison Lu. The first-generation student from Alhambra has achieved her goal of graduating with a double major in business administration and psychology, and she has set several more to reach by age 25. “I’ve accepted a position with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but I also want to live abroad for a year, be accepted into a top 10 MBA program and start my own company,” says the 21-year-old. That’s a very ambitious to-do list and timetable, but simultaneously juggling multiple priorities is a skill Lu has perfected during her four years at UCI. In addition to maintaining a 3.97 GPA, she has served internships, has been a board member of the UCI Student-Run Free Clinic Project’s finance committee, was elected to the Associated Students of UCI, and created and hosted a financial literacy workshop for students. “My campus experience has allowed me to try out various things that interest me,” Lu says, “and then pursue the things that make me happy.”

– Pat Harriman, UCI