Lopez Leaps Ahead at Albright
By Veloie Mastrocola ’23
Abigail Lopez jumped right in to her first on-campus work study position, as the face of Albright’s TikTok account .
Although only entering Albright as a first-year student seven months ago, Abigail Lopez (they/them) is already the equivalent of a junior. A driven student, Lopez says Albright College has already set the tone for them to fulfill their potential.
Earning an Associate of Arts degree as a high school student, Lopez began their college journey at the Early College High School at Midland College, a highly rigorous program in Midland, Texas. Graduating from a class of fewer than 100 students, Lopez earned credits that would soon pave the way toward a quicker bachelor’s degree at Albright.
“I knew going in to Albright that I wanted to incorporate English and computer science in any way I could, and so I saw the co-major program, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s actually kind of perfect for me,’” said Lopez. “It’s been nice, coming into this semester focusing on the things I like.”
Although unsure at the time whether their associate credits would be accepted, Albright’s co-major option made the college Lopez’s final choice.
The possibility of combining career paths is one of the reasons the co-major program appealed to Lopez, who is equally passionate about video games and novels. They especially enjoy RPG games for the storytelling element, and they are interested in finding more ways of incorporating aspects of the novel into video games. In the future, Lopez hopes to work in game development at a company like Bioware or Bethesda Softworks.
A first-generation student, Lopez feels that Albright is a place full of opportunities. In all, 57% of the class of 2025 identifies as first-generation and Albright faculty and staff take care to make programming welcoming to students from all backgrounds. And a vast array of student success initiatives are designed to enable all students to reach their varying goals.
Before studying at Albright, Lopez worried about falling behind classmates, especially in their computer science classes. “Some courses, even starting out at the intro level, they expect you to know more,” Lopez said about other colleges and universities.
“But Albright wasn’t like that, and I’ve been enjoying learning from the very beginning.” By the spring semester, Lopez learned that many of their associate degree credits were accepted toward their Albright bachelor’s degree.
Still, Lopez isn’t coasting. In addition to their coursework, Lopez also works two on-campus jobs, one of which involves creating content for Albright’s official TikTok account. Alongside gaining hands-on work experience, Lopez has observed personal growth since they began working on the videos.
“It’s definitely forced me to go out of my bubble. Having to go out and film in itself is just scary sometimes, so by doing the TikToks, I’ve been looking at new experiences I definitely wouldn’t have done before,” they said.
Lopez is keeping their eyes open to all the resources Albright offers, namely the Experiential Learning and Career Development Center, to continue carving their path in the field.
“There’s so much variation, and there’s normally something [for] all different departments, so I definitely think Albright is a good opportunity to gain that experience,” they said.