Matthew Palencia-Acevedo ’28 knows the importance of community on campus. That’s why he created a committee to enhance the connections among Merrimack College Pioneer Scholars, past and present.
“We had our first meet-up two weeks ago,” the applied physics and biology double-major said. “We all went to an arcade together and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We also did Mack Gives Back together.”
As president of a five-person leadership committee, Palencia-Acevedo is currently organizing some service events in Lawrence and Lynn and a networking event with some of the program’s donors.
“Our next plan is to set up cohort dinners where Pioneers from different years can meet, ask how school’s going and build that personal connection,” he said.
Palencia-Acevedo was inspired to found the committee after a period of isolation during his first months at Merrimack.
“During my freshman year, I wasn’t as involved as I am now,” he explained. “It was all academics to me. I went to my classes and then back to my room.”
His first step outside his comfort bubble was joining the Association of Latinos Moving Ahead (ALMA) as treasurer. Working with Elizabeth DeLong, assistant director of student involvement, Palencia-Acevedo gained a deeper understanding of how student organizations and clubs operate on campus. This year, he’s running for ALMA’s vice president.
A few months after initially joining ALMA, Palencia-Acevedo signed up to be an orientation leader.
“When I joined orientation, I was really pushed to be involved a lot more,” he explained. “I met a lot of my closest friends there, and seeing how involved they are really kicked things off for me. It was the first little spark.”
Palencia-Acevedo grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and is the son of Salvadoran emigrants. In high school, he attended Abbott Lawrence Academy, the accelerated honors high school within Lawrence High School.
“I took some early college classes at Merrimack in my junior year of high school – biology, politics, statistics, data science, human development, and Spanish,” he said.
Merrimack left a big imprint on Palencia-Acevedo, so when he found out his Pioneer Scholar application was accepted, he was overjoyed.
“It is a great opportunity that I was able to receive,” he said. “I knew my parents wouldn’t be able to send me to college. It gave me that opportunity to get into higher education and I knew I could make the best out of it.”
