Temple pharmacy graduate Beko Mantein is a survivor. How else do you describe a person who spent their childhood through adolescence in a war zone but never gave up hope of living a better life? For Mantein, the battlefield was his homeland of Liberia, where he bounced around from refugee camp to refugee camp and school to school.

When his family moved to America eight years ago, he knew he wanted to be a pharmacist. Imagine how devastated he felt when his high school guidance counselor told him he didn’t have the science fortitude to pursue a degree in pharmacy. 

That counselor clearly didn’t know Beko.

“I chose a profession in health care, specifically pharmacy, because back where I come from, anyone can sell drugs, even high-school drop outs. It’s not regulated. It’s terrible, really. I want to return home someday to help the people there.”

And while Mantein remained committed to his education, the hardships didn’t end there. Just three years ago, he found himself being tested again.

“It was late and I was checking my Facebook account. Everyone was in bed sleeping and I heard this wind, like the sound of a summer breeze.”

The sound Mantein had heard was the roar of flames shooting out of the lights around their Christmas tree on the front porch. The fire blocked their only exit.

“My first instinct was to start yelling, ‘Fire, fire,’” he said. “Smoke was filling the room, but we all made it through the flames and got outside.”

Just like that, everything Mantein’s family had worked for since arriving in this country went up in literal flames. The home in Upper Darby: gone. Immigration documents, clothes, pictures: gone. Mantein’s School of Pharmacy textbooks, graduate school work and computer: gone. Word soon spread around the community, and a donation drive at Temple’s School of Pharmacy grew to $1,500.

“I was frustrated that we lost our house, but we made it out. And seeing the outpouring of support from this larger family made me so glad.”

Beko knows how close he came to death every time he thinks back on that fateful December night almost three years ago. It makes him appreciate his success and his family that much more — especially his mother.

“Whenever I was down or felt the work was too hard, my mother always supported me,” says Mantein. “She is my rock.”

And she raised an equally sturdy son. Still, the words of discouragement from that guidance counselor echo in Mantein’s mind to this day. But neither those words, nor the war, nor the flames broke his spirit; they only made him work harder.

“All these things that happened to me are just events,” he said. “That’s life. My mom always said nothing good in this life comes easy. It’s all about survival.”

And when he walks across the stage to receive his degree, Beko will be more than a survivor; he will be a pharmacist.