User:Mizero


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I began my love affair with computers when I was eight years old in 1995. My mother was working for an international non-profit organization that was responsible for repatriating Rwandan refugees after the massacres in 1994. I was blown away by watching her type letters that would immediately appear on the screen. I began playing with her computer, trying to know more about it. I broke it, and fixed it; what I could not fix, my mother would have to call an IT technician to repair. My mother was unhappy but she could not stop my enthusiasm and desire for knowledge. I started asking the technician: “How does this work? How did you learn to fix computer hardware and software?” My questions were so persistent and he answered many of them and then said, “It is magic.”


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Quickly I learned that I needed to focus on mathematics and physics if I want to study computer science. I started seeing my doors being opened. Nevertheless, life holds folded paths once unfolded on our journey we encounter unwished circumstances. In my generation, the Rwandan Massacre left unresolved scars on a child’s heart. The education system in Rwanda had mainly science and social science fields. Students chose their major and my dream was to specialize in computers and I choose the scientific field. The Rwandan Education Board has a limited number of openings, and based on students grades, each student is admitted in the field of his or her choice. I had a strong GPA and students with strong grades are admitted first. I thought I was going to be in the science field because my grades were outstanding. No, I received acceptance to the humanities and the reason was my handicap –my right hand and arm have limited functions. After receiving this notification, I was furious and appealed this notice and attempted to be admitted into the science curricula –all in vain.


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I spent three years studying the humanities and became interested in history especially American History. I am blessed with a gift of learning quickly and a strong memory. I mastered English and was selected to represent my high school two times in the USA Embassy Black History Competition organized in the national capital in Kigali, Rwanda and twice I was one of the four finalists out of 160 candidates.


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In Rwanda, after high school there is a national exam. I excelled and received admittance to study in France. Coming to a Paris university with a Rwandan high school diploma in humanities, I was restricted to a liberal arts major and denied my request for a science major. France declined my desire based on my physical limitations of my right arm.


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The stigma of being rejected reappeared, and to cope with this stigma I wanted to graduate in one year. I studied and studied hard resting only two to three hours per day, collapsing six months later with a brain aneurysm. This was diabolic! I did not finish at the university and was hospitalized. The aneurysm and surgery caused short-term memory lose of language skills. After surgery I forgot my mother languages – French and Kinyarwanda. With one-year rehabilitation I gained and mastered my language skills. Since then my verbal skills are very good however brain surgery left my peripheral vision in my left eye limited, so I read slowly but with luck I have kept my memory intact. Rehab taught me to follow my dreams and study computer science. There is a better place where I can fulfill my dreams without discrimination and disability barriers. I applied for a diversity visa lottery to come to the United States of America. A year later, one-in-six-million odds, I received a diversity visa to the USA.


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After a long journey I realized that my dreams still stand, the lesson was persistence and there is no one door. In my experience there is no place better than the United States particularly the education system. From France after rehabilitation and with no scholarly record I was considered as a high school student. I continued my dream in computer science and chose the Northwest where high-tech companies and new computer opportunities develop every day. I arrived in Seattle December 2009 and through support of Street Soccer Seattle found lodging on the Eastside and enrolled in Bellevue College (BC). Two years at BC in computer sciences, I have completed courses of programming in Java and C sharp (C#), calculus series, chemistry, English and French composition providing a strong foundation for more studies in computer science. At BC I gained an Associated in Arts and Science degree in Computer Science with a 3.25 GPA making me a capable candidate for the UW Department of Computer Science and Engineering or UW Department of Mathematics.


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My dream is still to achieve a BS in Computer Science or Mathematics despite the turmoils and false starts. Completing my AAS is a major step in making my dream become a reality. My way of life and culture is unique -born with a disability, traumatized by the massacre in Rwanda, collapsing with an aneurysm and rehabilitation, I grew up experiencing how being a disabled person looks like, and how to respond with an open attitude that all options are open and available. We the handicap may look fragile but our fragility teaches us life is not soft, nor simple and rather we learn to take care of our precious selves without complaining. I have learned to be proud of who I am and to resolve the differences in society or community by bringing my unique personality and skills to address the differences. When I am programming it is much easier for me to think critically about all possible barriers and solution options to a project. In other words my disability has expanded my critical thinking and creative options for finding solutions.


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Computer Science is a very large field. I plan to major in Software Engineering as my first choice or Mathematics as I want to make software that fits the needs of disabled people. We all see computer technology rapidly changing and I want to be part of this evolution. I have different skills and believe that it is morally appropriate to give back what was given to you in different ways. This is one reason I want to study to develop and enhance software products for physically disabled persons and to look to the future to realize the needed of the 22nd century. The University of Washington Computer Science and Engineering is my first choice to continue my education. UW is a pioneer in research including Cloud Technologies and medical software, and these are areas I would like to specialize. UW facilities are state of the art and with local business partnerships create outstanding pathways for advancement and my professional career. As UW Information School professor Batya Friedman said, “We’re not just passive in the face of technology, it’s not something that happens to us. We are the creators of these tools, after all.” Professor Friedman speaks to the heart of why I want to complete my software engineering at UW. I will appreciate the opportunity to pursue my dreams of creating technological tools that will help disabled individuals worldwide and contribute more effectively to our shared cultural heritage both now and into the 22nd century.