Why Did I Choose Computer Engineering?

Laxmi Baral

My story behind why I want to become and engineer is very personal.

Growing up in a refugee camp we had little to no access to things such as electricity and computers. I remember watching a black and white TV powered by a battery, and thinking to myself, “what if we had a color TV, what if we had electricity”. It was early 2007 and my brother had just been born. The only form of light we had during the time was a kerosene powered lamp. My brother would often cry during the night, he would wake up, and my mother would to to get up, find kerosene(if there was some left), and then power on the lamp. Due to lack of kerosene, the lamp would often die, leaving my mother in the darkness; she would have trouble taking care of my bother. When living in the refugee camp, I always wondered what it would feel like to have lights in our house; but the idea of having lights was just a fantasy back then.

Here is an example of a house in the camp.
http://mapio.net/pic/p-47061492/

Our house was made from nothing but bamboo and plastic.

The idea of “lights” often bothered me during my early years. I wanted to be able to have light in my house, and it is at this point that I realized that I wanted to work with technologies and provide lights to people that need it. At this point I realized that I wanted to become an engineer, and provide electricity to places such as my camp.

I came to to the US to get a better education. Coming here was life changing for me. Arriving at New York and seeing all the bright lights and all these tall buildings solidified my thoughts of being an engineer.

My goal in life is to go back to the refugee camp and build an electrical plant, and provide light and electricity to those in need.