Turkey Earthquake Victim, Ibrahim Aras, Finds Hope in NJIT Business School Scholarship
A natural disaster in Turkey brought transfer student Ibrahim Aras, who is studying financial technology, to NJIT's Martin Tuchman School of Management.
Before the magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit on February 6, 2023, all was well with Aras, at the time a computer science major, who graduated from one of the best international science high schools in Turkey and fulfilled his dream to attend college in America, where he studied at Drexel University.
Everything changed that day. Almost 60,000 people died, including two of Aras' friends. He heard the breaking news through a group chat among his high school friends. He called home and his parents answered while running down stairs. They ran to his grandparent's house and found it already destroyed. A cousin was trapped under rubble for two days. His parents, both teachers, lived in their car and then in a tent, before evacuating to another part of the country. Now jobless, they could no longer pay his college bills.
With all of this on his mind, Aras did poorly on his midterms. He could not afford to register for the fall semester and could not find emergency assistance. Drexel provided funds for him to fly home. Instead, he sent the money to his parents, leaving him stuck without a university, crashing with a friend and unable to legally work.
"I really liked Drexel. I was so happy there. I had many friends. And I also liked my teachers. Everything was all right," Aras explained. "I contacted a lot of people. I tried to, but I couldn't get any positive feedback from any of them. So I didn't know what to do, because I wasn't financially able to make it, to stay in the United States anymore. But at the same time, I didn't want to turn back because it was my dream and I actually made it."
I'm just so happy that NJIT offers such a thing.
Out of options, Aras shared his plight with a friend at Drexel. "So I was talking with him about this, and he said that maybe his father can help me and I called him. We talked and he said that he heard about an opportunity that NJIT gives, and maybe I can consider that."
Aras didn't know that his friend's father was an acquaintance of Martin Tuchman himself, who had already arranged a scholarship for NJIT students who were victims of natural disasters. Nor could he have known that at NJIT, right up Interstate 95, the business school dean was herself Turkish. (Her family is from western Turkey, which avoided serious earthquake damage.) Tukel and Aras spoke, Aras completed applications for NJIT and for the scholarship, and his immediate problem was solved.
"Mr. Tuchman and I are really happy to help Ibrahim get another chance to finish his studies in the USA," Tukel said.
As a Drexel Dragon, Aras was involved with a cybersecurity club and a religion club. As a Highlander, he'd like to remain involved with such activities, and he's excited about NJIT's proximity to Wall Street. He's looking forward to economics courses. He even has a friend from back home in Turkey who also goes to NJIT, studying computer science.
Aras also spoke of his family's reaction. "At first, they had concerns about me changing schools and even a state due to their lack of knowledge. They also didn’t know if NJIT is a good and successful school. They urged me not to rush my decision, but rather to think and research carefully. After I assured them that coming here was the right choice and made them feel comfortable with my decision, they were both happy and thankful."
Of the Tuchman scholarship, "I need to say this and I want to say this. I'm just so happy that NJIT offers such a thing," Aras said on August 16, one day after arriving in Newark. "Because as I said, for literally months, I did my best and I actually almost lost my hope for being able to stay in the United States. But suddenly, like a miracle, I heard about this. And I'm thankful."
