Its More Than Computer Science at Clark Atlanta University for Ian Mills

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This week's student introduces himself. “Hi, my name is Ian Mills. I am from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean southern most island in the west Indies. I decided to come to the United States to pursue a degree in Computer Science mainly encouraged by my mother as well as educational opportunities available here.”

With that being said, Ian chose Clark Atlanta University as the school to further his education. “Clark Atlanta because my university of choice for a multiple of reasons. The first time Clark Atlanta came into my view was at a college fair and the high school that I was attending there was a college fair that multiple colleges came down from the United States and Clark Atlanta was one of them and I spoke to one of the representatives actually Ms. Davis who currently is the Assistant Director of Admissions and while speaking to her she really made Clark Atlanta seem like an interesting place to attend,” he says.

“Along with when I did my personal research Clark Atlanta was rated as of the top ten at the time of HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and I was also offered a scholarship to attend. So everything put together as well as a quick response from the Admissions office led me to attend Clark Atlanta university instead of other universities that I had also applied to.”Studying Computer Science is Ian's passion. He says it is important to him to do something that he enjoys as a pastime. So with that being said, is his coursework challenging for him? Ian says....”the classes aren’t difficult for and it is not difficult because it is not challenging, but at the high school I attended we also had to do an Associates, so before I came up here I did an Associates in Computer Science,” he says.

“So it is a lot of reinforcing that I previously learned and the upper classes are definitely more challenging now. I will also say it has helped me and prepared me for attending my internships that I did and the actual industry.Ian also says when it comes to getting an education; it is more than what he learns in the classroom.

“To me it is very important, but I would not limit education to strictly to what you learn in the classroom, I think the educational experience is more than what you do in the class, what you learn from the textbook, but I think your entire experience at a university so living in a dorm room, interacting with students, attending different groups and extra curriculum activities it builds a more holistic person and that is what I consider truly education you know is building a person not just learning information."As he looks over the past several years, Ian says there is a growth and development phase from being a freshmen student to now being a senior.

“I think when you come in as a freshman the thing is you are still almost questioning what you want out of life and even though as a senior that question is still there, it is answered a lot more,” he says. “ I would say for me for example when I first came I knew I was interested in Computers I changed my major from Information Systems to computer science which is like you are changing from a Business aspect to a more technical and that changing of itself help me define further what I was interested in the Computer field,” he says. “To me I think change of development are more and greater understanding of who you are and what you are interested in and the ability to pursue that.”

Another memory, which Ian says he will always treasure, is the camaraderie in the dormitory. “The one thing that I will always treasure is my freshman year living in the dorm and the freshman dorm is different that most rooms you have a roommate and it is one large room and two beds and you share that experience, but I think what the biggest experience was I would be sleeping and then get up about one or two o’clock in the morning and if you walk down the hallway at least every other door would be open and there just would be people hanging out,” he says.

“You know if they are doing homework, playing games or talking, there was always something going on and to me just that experience that I can get up in the morning and it can be whatever hour, whatever time in the night and just go and hang out with some friends and know it is in your same building it is just that camaraderie, that brotherly kind of mesh I think that was the best thing the biggest memory I take away from Clark.” Ian says his next steps in life after graduation will be to work in the computer field.

Former William Woods University Student Returns for Graduate Studies

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His name is Ilia Lipartiani. Ilia has returned to William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri after graduating from there in 2005. Here's his story. “I’m from Republic of Georgia, former USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and first of all I came to the United States as an exchange student. I came to the state of Montana and I graduated high school in Montana. I went there one year in 2000 and I graduated in 2001,” he says.

“Now I am attending William Woods University. I graduated in 2005. I went there for four years on a soccer scholarship. I took one year off after I graduated in 2005. I worked in St. Louis and then I came back as an assistant soccer coach and I am doing my MBA right now.”

So what is it about the university that made Ilia return to pursue his MBA degree? “The university is pretty small. It is about one thousand people and outside maybe not even that much and they are just really friendly people. You pretty much get to know everyone on campus, all the students everyone and they are very nice people, very nice professors,” he says.

“I like the professors a lot because since I am an international student, when I came I had a little bit of language barrier to understand everything that was being discussed in the class and the classes are about twenty-five to thirty people so teachers would stay afterwards and help me out if I had any problems with anything, especially Ms. Popp she taught me a lot of courses in Business. She was very, very helpful and I like the community and that is the reason I decided to come back.” While working on his degree, Ilia says he enjoys the fact of being able to mix his studies with being an assistant soccer coach.

“When I came in 2001 I played four years I was offered a full scholarship with soccer and I had just an amazing time playing soccer and I love soccer so I kind of wanted to continue my soccer career,” he says. “Soccer is a big part me and I love the sport definitely plus I love business and I wanted to get involved, get more knowledge in business so I tried to mix those two things together which would be soccer and business and it kind of happened perfectly,” he says. “I became a soccer assistant coach meanwhile I am getting my MBA.” Ilia says its not so much the university, but for him it is important to pursue a second degree especially in the United States.

“Well it was very important actually because back home having gained an American degree, having a degree from the United States means a lot and since I got my bachelor’s degree here I was very happy with that and my parents and all of my family was very happy with that and then I had the chance to continue my education, get my Masters which was huge plus I think for my education career,” he says. “It will be very valued in the United States and more than in the United States in Georgia having a Masters degree from the United States and the reason I did this is because I hope my possibilities will be more open and that is the reason I decided to go for the MBA.”

The MBA program is for two years and Ilia has completed his first year. He says he will return in August to complete his studies. “This is my first year. I am just finishing my first year right now. It is a two year program we don’t have any breaks other than Christmas break two weeks break for Christmas and the program goes through the summer, however I’ve decided that since I haven’t been home in about three and a half years now I decided to take one and a half month off from my class and go back home and visit my family and then come back in the beginning of August.” Once Ilia finishes, his first priority is to work in the busines world. He says he will still be involved with soccer in some way because that is one of his passions in life.

“I’ve decided that since I played in college and now I coach it is a big part of me and I love the sport definitely, I think I would more likely be coaching the younger kids just for fun so I am still involved with soccer, but my priority will be the business and because I love business very much I want to have success and that is what I want to do and secondly I would look at the soccer just to have fun and it kind of keeps me in shape and all that stuff and plus coaching the kids and spreading my knowledge to education the kids.

Delaware State University Gives Canadian Student Major of Her Choice and Much More

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Savitre Bachoo chose Delaware State University and there is more than one reason why she did. “I viewed all the other schools that were also interested in me because of soccer and basically at Delaware State the atmosphere here on campus is awesome. For me personally I don’t like a big, big campus and I mean compared to some of the other schools that I know the campus is really not that small, but at the same time it is in walking distance to everything around so that is what I like about the campus,” she says.

“Also the teachers are really great here. If you are one of those people that you really need help or something like that, there’s always ways to get help here like there is always tutoring places you can go to with no hassle or anything like that, but there is a lot of great opportunities on campus that students can really take advantage of and compared to some of the other schools that I have heard of through some of my friends going there right now, I think that right now Delaware State has a lot of focus on the students and they have my major here and the campus is great so I really didn’t mind coming here.”

Going to college and playing soccer here is important for Savitre, but she says she also is mindful of having a job once she finishes. “Well, I am originally from Toronto, Canada and the reason why I decided to the United States was because I am on a soccer scholarship right now, but my whole goal in the future is I am a Nursing major and in terms of working in Canada as oppose to the United States, nurses make a lot more here,” she says.

“So basically coming to school here is one step in the door to trying to make a living for myself here.”

While studying to receive a nursing degree, Savitre says much is expected from her being a soccer athlete on scholarship. “There is always high expectations here expected of the athletes because they don’t want to set the attitude to other people on campus that athletes get away with everything so basically athletes always have to be better than the regular student,” she says. “We have to prove ourselves academically, but physically especially with our sport and since this university is trying to strive to achieve a lot with their sports we always are training and with our training we are always studying and there is always mandatory study hall so as an athlete here I mean a lot of people assume that athletes get away with a lot but no, as for me especially I have to work twice as hard just to stay on top of my schoolwork and excel in that as well as my sport.”

Savitre is nineteen years old and in her second year at Delaware State. She says for her, studying in the United States is a great learning experience. “I think it is not so much how important, but I think it is more of how great it is as a learning experience because in the United States as well as Canada too I can see that there is a lot more opportunities around you as long as you take advantage of it here, anywhere really, but with this is for me I think that there is a lot of things going on that you can always get yourself involved,” she says.

“There is always experience all around you if you take the opportunities and with that it also helps you get into many job fields that you want. I think especially in America there are always opportunities for its citizens. It could be the littlest opportunities that you think that means nothing, but in the end it could turn into something big so that is what I really like. The fact that there is always an open door as long as you take advantage of it.”

Savitre's advice to other international students is… “By people coming to the United States from different countries people think that they won’t appreciate your culture or where you are from especially if you are different than the average person here, but really coming here is not the way sometimes people portray it,” she says.

“People are welcoming here and people appreciate the fact that you are an individual and there is a lot of opportunities here and I just think it is a great advantage from studying away usually where I’m usually from.