Each day that she has class, Xinlei Xiao, class of 2025, commutes the 45 minutes to Main Campus from her childhood home in Northeast Philadelphia with three motivating forces propelling her down Broad Street: her siblings.
“Growing up, my siblings would always come to me at home looking for answers and to help them with their homework,” Xiao says. “If I did not know the answers, I felt they would be disappointed.”
While basic in its nature, this simple concept of siblinghood has pushed Xiao, an honors accounting major, to always carry motivation, hold a desire to learn and forge a path toward success in and beyond her pursuits at Temple University’s Fox School of Business.
In her eyes, after all, her family is counting on her.
Entering the fall semester of her senior year, it’s hard to imagine that Xiao, even with the quickest of glances at her already impressive resume, needs to stay striving. But it’s simply in her nature, etched by her upbringing, to do anything but.
In the three years since she first stepped into the hallways of Alter Hall, Xiao has paved the path toward her future—through efforts both in and out of the classroom—for success well beyond her graduation date next spring.
In addition to serving as president of the Fox School’s Student Professional Organization (SPO) Institute of Management Accountants chapter, Xiao has already passed the vital certified management accountant (CMA) exams and begun studying for the certified public accountant (CPA) assessments. This past summer she also served as an intern at KPMG through its Embarks Scholars Program (with a proposed start date as an audit associate secured for next fall).
“Xinlei is a shining example of what it means to find success as a first-generation student. She’s made all of us in the accounting department proud through all her amazing accomplishments and we are so excited to see what she can achieve in the industry.”
Accounting associate professor AJ Kreimer, MBA ’78
While her journey at Temple has been lined with accolades already achieved, one, in addition to her diploma, will be added next May: first-generation college graduate.
“Both my parents emigrated to the United States from China, so for them, especially with a language barrier, college was out of the question,” Xiao explains. “From a young age they instilled in my siblings and me that we should all accomplish some kind of college education, because they knew it was possible for us.”
Like Xiao, there are many first-generation college students at the Fox School. Despite each student’s unique journey, they all carry the same weight of their legacy with them to a place it’s never gone before: a college campus.
“I hope that through sharing my story I can communicate to my fellow and any perspective first-generation college students proof that you can find success on the journey ahead of you,” says Xiao. “You might feel uncertain about your path, but my best advice would be just to embrace it and never be afraid to seek support — I definitely have here.”
As she prepares for her next chapter beyond Fox next spring, Xiao will always feel gratitude for the support she’s found from the campus community.
“I’ve found Temple and the Fox School to be an environment where I feel incredibly supported as a first-generation student,” says Xiao. “I find that our university embraces all of us, no matter our backgrounds, and sees us all as integral members of the study body community.”
“It’s important to surround yourself with people and a community that believe in you.”
One of many in the community, AJ Kreimer, MBA ’78, an associate professor of practice in the accounting department, is a stout supporter of first-generation students at Fox.
“I am so proud to be involved in cultivating an environment at Fox, and the university as a whole, where first-generation students can thrive and pursue academic excellence,” says Kreimer. “I truly believe opening doors for first-generation students is a stellar pillar we display as a university, highlighted through programming like ‘Ready to Fly’ and groups such as ‘Temple First’.”
Through his role as accounting professor and Institute of Management Accountant SPO’s faculty advisor, he’s served as an advocate in helping Xiao flourish.
“Xinlei is a shining example of what it means to find success as a first-generation student,” he explains. “She’s made all of us in the accounting department proud through all her amazing accomplishments and we are so excited to see what she can achieve in the industry.”
“To me, she embodies exactly what the Temple experience is all about.”