Hidaya Hassan

Hidaya is pursuing her dream to help others

As a first-generation college student, Hidaya Hassan and her family are thrilled that not only is she earning her associate degree this spring without having paid any tuition thanks to the Star Scholarship, but she has also been named Wright College’s valedictorian.

Hidaya was born in Palestine, the second youngest of eight children, but her family moved to the United States when she was four. Always a bright student who loved to learn, Hidaya focused on earning her high school diploma from Taft High School in three years and moving on to Wright College, where she could earn the prerequisite classes she needed to apply to pharmacy school. Since her sophomore year in high school, she knew that she wanted to be a pharmacist, because she loved science, could work with patients, and could help people.

She loved her time at Wright College, saying that she appreciated the small class sizes where she could ask questions and the supportive community there. And she was busy – a member of the Society of Women Engineers, Muslim Student Association, American Chemical Society, Pre-Pharmacy Association, MD/PA Association, Phi Theta Kappa honor society, and the Student Government Association – all while working part time as a pharmacy technician, for which she got her license in 2018.

Hidaya’s next step has been part of her plan since she decided on her career path – she will transfer to the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Pharmacy in the fall of 2020 where she will pursue her dream.

Find out more about the Star Scholarship with City Colleges of Chicago here.