UNIVERSITY PARK — From a young age, Martin R. Cepeda Jr. knew he wanted more -- more opportunities, more success, more freedom -- and he knew college was his gateway.
Growing up in a middle-class, working family in New Jersey, Cepeda strived to build on the great “life knowledge” his parents instilled in him, he said.
With little guidance or experience from those around him, he set out to do what no one in his family had ever done: go to college.
And just like that, he did.
Cepeda graduated from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business in 2005. He has since found success in recruiting for companies like Johnson & Johnson and, currently, AstraZeneca, for which he is director of human resources. He also serves as an executive board member for the Alumni Association’s Alumni Council and as chair of its Volunteer Service Committee.
“The aspiration to do more and to grow more and to be better has always been internal to me,” Cepeda said. “Penn State allowed me to turn these feelings into actions.”
This, Cepeda said, is one of the many reasons he has recently established the Martin R. Cepeda Jr. Program Endowment and Award for Alumni Career Development and Advancement. Each year, income from the $25,000 endowment -- currently set at 4.5 percent of the endowment or $1,125 -- will ensure that the Alumni Association continues its commitment to bettering the lives of alumni by providing more resources for mentoring, job opportunities and career support.
In conjunction with the financial aspect, this endowment seeks to foster and cultivate passionate organizations or individuals that better others, he said.
Cepeda has reached and even exceeded his initial dreams of college and success, but he knows he didn’t get here alone; he remembers those who assisted him along the way.
He remembers his high school guidance counselor who helped him apply to a variety of colleges, 20 of which sent him acceptances.
He remembers Kenny Macklin, an admissions counselor and basketball coach for Penn State Altoona, who put Penn State on Cepeda’s radar and helped him play for Altoona’s basketball and baseball teams.
He remembers his parents and family members, his high school teachers and college professors, and he celebrates them for supporting him along the way. In turn, Cepeda now seeks to become one of these people to someone else.
Cepeda has always looked at his life like a puzzle, he said, and this endowment is simply the next piece.
“It’s my way of paying it forward,” Cepeda said. “This is the beginning of a thank you to the University that has empowered me to be something better, something more.”
Penn State’s alumni and friends are invaluable partners in fulfilling the University’s land-grant mission of education, research and service. Private gifts from alumni and friends enrich the experiences of students both in and out of the classroom, expand the research and teaching capacity of our faculty, enhance the University’s ability to recruit and retain top students and faculty, and help to ensure that students from every economic background have access to a Penn State education. The University’s colleges and campuses are now enlisting the support of alumni and friends to advance a range of unit-specific initiatives.