PEMBROKE – UNC Pembroke is proudly a regional university – yet it’s a student from Egypt who demonstrates the university’s reach.

In the accompanying video, UNCP Chancellor Robin Gary Cummings shares the story of Ereny Gerges, who was born in Egypt and immigrated to Charlotte with her family in 2012.

Ereny graduated from UNCP in May with a double-major in Chemistry and Biology and as an Honors College scholar who took on multiple leadership and research roles. She aims to pursue a career in medicine and medical research.

Cummings says that when he asked Ereny what attracted her to UNC Pembroke, she replied, “’I wanted to go to a school where I was a name and not a number.’

“And that talks to the personal education that we provide students here through our faculty, the great work of our faculty, to interact with students on that very personable, one-to-one relationship,” Cummings says.

“She said, ‘I want to be a pediatrician. And I realized from looking at the success of your alumni – and I looked at the success that this school has in putting students into medical school – I realized that wherever I wanted to land in life, I could get there from here.’

“We’ve actually embraced her idea that ‘wherever I want to land in life, I could get there from here,’” he says.

“So we tell our students, ‘You can get there from here. It’s going to take hard work. But you work with us, you take advantage of all that this university provides for you, and without question you can maximize the God-given potential that you’ve been given.’

“And we’re excited about that.”