{"id":15396,"date":"2024-12-12T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/pr\/?p=15396"},"modified":"2026-07-13T20:53:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:53:42","slug":"i-never-gave-up-on-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/i-never-gave-up-on-myself\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I never gave up on myself\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jalen Hunter will receive his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering on Friday, Dec. 13.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Jalen Hunter<\/strong>\u2019s interest in becoming a mechanical engineer started \u2013 as most passions do \u2013 at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter, a University of Maryland Eastern Shore student from Oxon Hill, Maryland, would often see his dad working on cars, which led to his career inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw there was a lot of handiwork involved, and I saw I wanted to do something a step above that,\u201d he said. \u201cMy high school teachers advised me to do research on engineering and when I read more about mechanical engineering, the more I was excited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That path led him to UMES, where he enrolled in the fall of 2018. Now, Hunter will be one of 202 students set to have their degrees conferred during the 2024 Winter Commencement on Dec. 13 at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter\u2019s ardent enthusiasm for mechanical engineering has allowed him opportunities to put his creative knack on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just two months ago, Hunter and two other engineering undergraduates were selected to present their research in an abstract at the International Astronautical Congress conference in Milan, Italy \u2013 something he considers one of his greatest achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was the first time that I had ever traveled outside the country, and it was based off something I was able to do working with a team,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing able to have that opportunity to work on my first project, school-wise, it was great to see how far it got me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with his successes came a set of challenges. That included when the world \u2013 and UMES \u2013 was constrained by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter said moving from in-person learning to an online format took time to adjust to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was nervous because I knew online classes wasn’t really my specialty, because I was so comfortable talking to the teachers face-to-face,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also knew it was going to be a learning experience for the teachers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Hunter\u2019s time at UMES draws to a close, he considers his journey one shaped by his resiliency and tenacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a story of determination,\u201d he said. \u201cI never gave up on myself and neither did the people around me, including my mother who supported me the most. They gave me the support to push me further than where I thought I\u2019d go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jalen Hunter\u2019s interest in becoming a mechanical engineer started \u2013 as most passions do \u2013 at home. Hunter, a University of Maryland Eastern Shore student from Oxon Hill, Maryland, would often see his dad working on cars, which led to his career inspiration. \u201cI saw there was a lot of handiwork involved, and I saw…Read more \u2018I never gave up on myself\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1559,"featured_media":15385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-15396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15396"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=15396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}