Rafael Álvarez Febo

“Ever since I was younger, I always wanted an Ivy League education,” says Rafael Álvarez Febo (BAAS ’24). Although he began his college career straight out of high school, he had to put higher education on hold for financial reasons. Meanwhile, his community development career took off: Rafael served as the Director of Economic and Community Development for Philadelphia City Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez and as the Executive Director for the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs. Penn’s Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree allowed him to continue serving the public while making his academic dreams a reality. “I decided to finish my bachelor’s degree because I got to a point in my career where I felt I was doing really well, and, I needed to do something for myself,” says Rafael. “Being able to do it at Penn was a plus.”

Although his advisors recommended part-time coursework to balance with his full-time career, Rafael enrolled as a full-time student. “I wanted to complete the degree quickly. I didn’t want to be in school for such a long time that I didn't see an end in sight,” he explains. Taking four courses each term, Rafael worked with his advisors to identify subjects that paired well and balance the different kinds of assignments required by different disciplines. “It was quite a challenge, but I think being really organized with my work life and academic life allowed me to do it,” he reflects. “The biggest surprise was that, although I really just wanted to get it done, I did enjoy the subjects!” Rafael focused his curriculum with the Literature, Culture, and Tradition degree concentration, taking courses in subjects from African music to global studies and writing to religious studies. “This concentration puts the humanity in the humanities,” says Rafael. “You have access to the wealth of Penn's libraries and resources. You have world-class experts that are making connections that you probably wouldn't make on a regular basis. And whether it's through stories, through art, or all those different mediums, you get to really connect the dots.”

Rafael was also surprised that his humanities coursework connected so well with his professional interests. Now the Vice President for Advocacy and Community Development at Esperanza, a faith-based nonprofit serving the Hispanic community in North Philadelphia, Rafael works with residents of all ages and different backgrounds. In a course called Intercultural Communication, he says, “I literally used examples from my workplace in the assignments, and used the tools that I gained in real time.” Although, he points out, being part of the Penn LPS Online community is always an opportunity for intercultural communication. “Meeting people from other parts of the world, that was really cool,” says Rafael. “We had classes where we're all studying the same subject but we're in ten different time zones. We're all basically reading the same material and really trying to interpret it with lenses that are fairly different.”

As he completed writing-intensive courses in the humanities and social sciences, Rafael realized another one of his academic goals: “I really wanted to become a stronger writer. I had lost some confidence, and I wanted to get it back,” Rafael explains. “This program unleashed the feeling that I could write, and I started feeling a bit more confident.” He began submitting op-eds to local newspapers and found his words published in The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s campus newsletter, as well as the Philadelphia Inquirer and Impacto, a local Spanish-language newspaper. On a more personal note, he was inspired to write about his neighborhood in a creative writing course. “I was able to capture stories about different members of my community, everyone from the block captain who keeps our neighborhood clean to the young man that breakdances,” he recalls. “Often, stories about our people are not written by our people—so writing that was really fulfilling. Everyone has value and they have a place.”

“Yo tengo mucho orgullo de ser Puertorriqueño. I'm very proud to be Puerto Rican. That is a big part of who I am,” Rafael continues. “And Puerto Rico is a place that has a lot of struggle and systemic issues that end up hurting people's ability to thrive. Community work and civic engagement is about looking at those barriers and saying, how do we empower each other to change those barriers, to get them out of the way so we can be an abundant and thriving community? So community work, for me, is always problem-solving for the now and planning for the future—and doing it not for people but with them.” In a course called Designing Critical Futures, Rafael was able to draw connections between his vision for the future, his passion for his community, and his academic ambitions; the class culminated in a highly personalized project for which Rafael proposed a model for empowering his North Philadelphia community members to advocate for themselves using actual resources. “I felt proud of myself for developing that,” he says. “I felt very much like I earned my place here at Penn.”

At graduation, Rafael was recognized with the Linda Bowen Santoro Award, presented annually by the College of Liberal Professional Studies Alumni Association to a graduating LPS student who displayed unusual motivation and dedication in the pursuit of an undergraduate degree. “I really do appreciate that the dean and my advisors saw my story, and appreciated the fact that there were countless challenges, and then saw the value of my tenacity. I’m really proud to be recognized for that,” he says. “I hope, if there are people taking courses that feel that they’re struggling…. There’s always just one step at a time. One assignment at a time.”