Transfer student, international resident finds her home at York College

Written by: Nathan Leakway '24

For Marianna Lally ‘26, the notion of home is a complicated one.

She was born in New York City but grew up internationally, and before coming to York, PA, she and her family lived in Mexico, Belgium, Turkey, and Russia. When her father, who works as a diplomat for The U.S. Department of Commerce, was expelled from Russia, her family moved back to her mother’s home city of Kiev. “ ‘Where are you from?’ is actually the hardest question for me,” she says. “When I answer it, it’s where I feel at home the most. That’s Ukraine. I’ve connected with the culture there very deeply. That’s where I found my home. That’s where I’m from.”

A Finance major, Marianna is a transfer student from Liberty University in southern Virginia, a Christian university with an undergraduate enrollment of 48,906 students. “I had a few connections there, so when I came back to the United States, I thought it would be a good fit for me,” she says. “But it was a huge change coming from Europe. I enjoyed the university, but I wanted to be somewhere where there were more things to do.”

She had heard about York College as a student at the International School of Brussels, where she attended high school. A tour of the College convinced her to transfer. “I felt like York College was a place I could really thrive,” she says.

Thriving means connecting with other students. “I dedicate a lot of my time to academics and trying to pursue a healthy lifestyle, but I always want to develop more connections and make more friends,” Marianna says. “I feel like getting to know other students is so important in developing a sense of community. That’s what I realized in moving to so many different places, and I feel like meeting other people will make everyone’s time at college easier. It certainly made mine easier.”

Marianna’s first language is Russian, and she still speaks it regularly with her family and friends back in Ukraine. “Ukrainians are very brave, and despite Russia's war, my family and friends and I all still stay in touch,” she says. Continuing to speak her first language regularly has allowed Marianna to still feel a strong connection to her home and the people she misses there despite the distance and the conflict. She also works as a Russian tutor at YCP and finds the process very rewarding. “I know how hard it is to acclimate to new environments. I’ve struggled a lot with that, but language always played a big role in feeling included.” Marianna is also a member of Phi Sigma Sigma and recently became a Spartan Ambassador.

“I want to tell students that, yes, coming to college is nerve-racking, but you’re going to make friends; you’re going to be fine,” she says. “I wish someone had told me that, and I thought becoming an ambassador would be the most influential way that I could try to show that to new students.”

Marianna isn’t quite sure what the future holds for her after college, but she is excited about the international opportunities that a career in finance could afford her, and she trusts her professors to help her get there. “The professors really know you here,” she says. “That didn’t happen at my old school. Here, they know your name, and they remember where you’re from. It’s important to know that you are valued as a student.”

Feeling valued is one of the primary benefits of finding community. “People will accept you for you at York College,” she says. “I have found the community here so inclusive from day one. I’ve found my closest friends here.”