Steed Amegbor moved to Newark as a teenager knowing very little English. With the help of the Monsignor William J. Linder Scholarship, he successfully completed high school and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Stevens Institute of Technology. Now he’s heading to Texas to become a mechanical engineer for ExxonMobil.
In 2010, Amegbor moved to Newark from Togo, West Africa. It was his junior year of high school and his knowledge of English was limited. He received the Monsignor William J. Linder Scholarship to attend St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, which he says was extremely helpful.
“There’s no way I could’ve possibly afforded the financial burden of St. Benedict’s without the scholarship,” Amegbor said.
Getting an education through St. Benedict’s and attending the church helped Amegbor meet people who helped him through the transition and served as a moral guide.
“It doesn’t sound like much, but those things were really helpful. They made a big impact on me,” he said. “Coming here, I didn’t know what to expect. They gave me all the tools I needed. I’m very grateful for that.”
When Monsignor Linder hears success stories like Amegbor’s he feels proud. “It proves what we can do in education if we put our mind to it,” he said.
Amegbor wanted to make Monsignor Linder proud by achieving academic success.
“I’m sure he felt that he wasn’t wasting his money,” Amegbor said. “It was important to me to give him that gratification.”
Amegbor said New Community also helped his mother so he could focus on his education.
“The only thing I had to worry about was school. They gave me that foundation just to focus on school and not worry about anything else that was going on at the time,” he said.
That solid foundation allowed Amegbor to graduate from St. Benedict’s in 2012. He then went to Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken where he completed a five-year program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering May 24.
This month he’s moving to Texas where he will be a mechanical engineer for ExxonMobil in Beaumont. Amegbor applied for the position while at Stevens. He said the company comes to the college each year to recruit talent. The hiring process took about three months with a total of seven interviews. Amegbor traveled to Texas for the final phase.
The future looks bright for this young man who in seven years became fluent in English, earned a high school and college degree and secured a full-time mechanical engineering job at a major global company.