When Bronx Community College student Jin Chen learned about receiving a scholarship through the BCC Foundation, it came as an amazing surprise, helping to pay for summer class ebooks, notebooks and some other school-related items.

Chen, who came to BCC after taking seven years to earn a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Laboratory Science from Michigan State University, thought of dropping out of school on many occasions when the pressure of handling bipolar disorder along with classes felt like too much.

“When you hit rock bottom, the only direction to go is up,” Chen said. “With no success finding work after I graduated, I was going to settle on being a phlebotomist rather than a laboratory technician, but through my mother’s encouragement, I decided to further my studies and found the MLT program at BCC.”

Chen said BCC’s Medical Lab Technician (MLT) program will provide the hospital work experience needed to launch a successful career in the field. “BCC has a great reputation with all of the area hospitals and connections in all five bureaus. I’m shooting to do my spring three-month internship at a hospital in Brooklyn,” Chen said.

For now, Chen commutes from Queens, a total of about 80 minutes each way. Chen is involved with the MLT Club on campus and takes advantage of the LGBTQ Resource Room.

According to Chen, BCC’s greatest assets are its diversity and the intimacy of the professor-student relationship. “You ask questions of your professors, and you get answers in real time. As for the students, it feels like we’re all in this together. We support one another, like family,” Chen said.

Chen, who intends to apply for some additional scholarships over the next several months, wakes up every day at 5 or 5:30 am to be able to get ready for class and then make the commute. “Good things don’t come along easily; you need to fight for them,” Chen adds.