2025 Senior Stories
Six students took Cosc 410 Senior Seminar and/or Math 412 Connections Seminar in Spring 2025. Here are their short personal stories.
Shoaib Ansari
My name is Shoaib Ansari and I’m from India. Specifically, a small town in Northern India called Mussoorie, also known as “Foothills of the Himalayas”. I grew up in that small town until I left for college in the USA. I attended Woodstock School where my father was also a teacher. I studied there for about 10 years. Coming to Goshen College was a really big opportunity for my brother and I but I had no idea what I wanted to do or study when I got here. So I signed up for a bunch of classes in various fields that I might’ve potentially liked. One of those classes was a computer science course and the others were courses in accounting, marketing, and economics. I really was confused. After much deliberation I decided to declare computer science as my major and accounting as my minor.
Throughout college I have had lots of really nice experiences with my friends. An experience that will stick with me is my time at Red Lake Nation where I went for disaster relief in May of 2024. It was very interesting to get to experience the unique culture of the Red Lake native people and I was fascinated with their respect for their land and nature. I don’t think I ever would’ve gotten to experience or learn so much about that culture and those people if I had never come to Goshen College which is something I am extremely grateful for.
Goshen has given me a lot of opportunities and experiences that allow me to excel in things I want to do. I always liked the fact that Goshen College was relatively small which allows for personal relationships with professors to develop. You see your professors a lot and since class sizes are smaller, it’s easier to work one-on-one with the professors if you want to understand something or need help with something. I like the holistic approach of the liberal arts college education and it gives you exposure to different aspects of the world that are important. I have taken religion, sustainability, social work, political, athletic, and other classes here at Goshen which is something that is a huge component in becoming a global citizen.
One of my favorite things about college has been the various events that I can go to and take part in. Some of these include plays put on by students, kickoff (an annual talent show), coffeehouse, athletic events, game nights, movie nights, and bingo nights. We have also had fashion shows, concerts, intramurals, and camping which are quite fun to be a part of with friends.
Moving forward, my plans for the future are to work in the USA after college for at least a year before going for masters in Machine learning/AI or data analytics. I would love to stay in the US if I can and the visa allows me to because I like it here and a lot of my friends from high school and college are in the US. If I can’t work right away then I will go to India, be with my family and work there. Although, my goal will be to come back soon to get my masters in the US.
Marlon Aparicio
I am from El Salvador, Usulutan. From my time in school at El Salvador, I went from wanting to become a medical doctor to working in something in the STEM field. I am not completely sure of what motivated this change, perhaps the fact that I liked playing video games and thinking about the way things work. But even then, It wasn’t clear what I wanted to do within STEM . Once I came to the U.S, during high school, I had the idea of studying something related to computers. I liked computers, and I was the person in my family that anyone would go to in case they had a technological problem. At the same time, In my first semester of High school I had to take algebra 1. That semester was not a good experience for me, because I didn’t know much English, so learning something as complicated as algebra while not understanding English was not a good combination. However, I went from being lost in mathematics to loving the feeling of being able to understand a mathematical concept. Sadly I was not able to get more than a “D” in algebra 1. By the time I had to take algebra 2 my English level was enough to understand mathematics, so I am glad to say that I passed Algebra 2 with an “A”. This success of events surely planted a seed in me. Because even though I decided to declare computer science as my only major and mathematics as my minor during my first semester, I ended up declaring a double major in computer science and mathematics by the end of my first semester in college.
From my time at Goshen College I’ve had the opportunity to meet amazing people, people that have helped me in many ways. I have been able to be part of events like the Science Olympiad, sport events, and trips to interesting places. During my SST I had the opportunity to volunteer for Mennonite Disaster Service where not only was I able to expose myself to a different culture, but I was able to spend time with great people. It is needless to say that from my time at GC, a lot of my points of view have been changed, and I’ve had amazing experiences.
In the future I hope to work in something that encompasses mathematics and computer science, perhaps data science. It is still not clear for me what I would actually like to work for. I just know that I will make sure to get the best out of every situation that I will encounter in my life.
Karitas Arnardóttir
My name is Karítas Arnardóttir and I am from Iceland. When I first came to Goshen College in 2021 I wanted to study both Computer Science and Film Studies, however that was not possible as Film Studies did not offer a minor course and I wanted to major in Computer Science. So, I talked with some of the teachers at Goshen and they were able to help me and suggested that I could take Communications as a minor with a focus on film instead.
I have been playing soccer since I was about four years old, and being able to receive an education while also being able to focus on my sport is something that was very important to me. Goshen College is very accommodating of their athletes and being able to have teachers that understand that with sports anything can happen that can affect the studies and they are all very understanding and help find solutions in order to be able to succeed in both.
Being away from home for such a long time made me really nervous for my first year here, but after meeting all these new people on campus helped ease my nerves and I have made friendships that I know will last a long time. My plans for the future are not very detailed, but there are two things that I know I want to do. One is to continue to play soccer semi-professionally, and second is to find a job in the computer science field that interests me.
Stephen Bandi
My name is Stephen Bandi and I was born in a small town called Vihiga, half an hour away from the second largest city in Kenya, Kisumu. I was raised in a family with limited resources in terms of electronics so my attention was only on physical activities which we experienced as children in a small town. During this time, it’s when I figured out that I had a passion for playing soccer.
A few years later, it was time for me to join high school and that meant leaving home. This was one of the best experiences I received as a teenager. In my high school, I was introduced to a computer course and this really pushed me to pursue my major in computer science. From the projects we were assigned in excel to solving problems through software while using a computer, it was no longer only a device I could use to play games. And I was still able to participate in the school’s soccer program. Before completing my school, I did not know I was going to choose this major but due to my computer class professor’s influence, I was able to choose this as my career path.
Following what I am passionate about which is playing soccer, and pursuing what I want for my career, it led me to Goshen College as an athlete student majoring in Computer Science. I have had a warm welcome from the moment I landed here at Goshen to playing for the Maple Leafs – soccer and track activities. Involvement in these activities has helped me gain friends from different backgrounds and this is how Goshen College continued to peak my interest and further my education.
I thank Goshen College for coming up with various ideas through my major on what to plan for my future after graduation. From Networking, Programming, Database Management, Mathematics, Game Design, all these courses were introduced to me and they are going to help me achieve my career goals.
Rhys Bruhn
My name is Rhys Bruhn and I am a computer science major focusing in cyber security and information technology. Apart from embarrassing stories my grandmother would talk about when I was young, something she would often bring up is how at a young age I had known more about computers than she had, and I was the one teaching her how to use them. Computers and technology have been a constant in my life and the opportunity to grow up with computers and technology around only furthered my interest in computer science as a whole.
One thing that I really appreciated about Goshen College has been the diverse roster of professors within the computer science department, all specializing in different fields of computer science. This has helped me narrow down the actual field I wanted to focus on: cyber security. Information technology (IT) I chose as well because being a work study student in Instructional Technology Services at Goshen College has been an enjoyable experience. Learning from these professors was very helpful for me in deciding what I wanted to do because they had been very passionate about what they were doing but also had work and background experience in their subjects, and I remember most of the professors would use real world examples in their previous job to help explain and show what it would look like outside of the classroom. Being able to help people with problems that they had through computers always felt good to me.
In the future I want to continue to focus on cyber security since it’s a growing field and is becoming increasingly important because of how advanced hackers or spam is getting and costing people or businesses tons of money.
Eric Claudio
My name is Eric Claudio. I was born in Los Angeles, but raised in Elkhart, Indiana. When I was younger, I was fascinated with technology. How it all started was when I attempted to fix a gaming console with a blow dryer. It worked for a week and then stopped working after, but I thought it was the best thing ever. From that point, I loved trying to tinker or fix electronics. When I got to Goshen College, I saw that they offered computer science as a major and took the chance to pursue the major.
Looking back, I am shocked at how much I was pushed and motivated to grow as both a student and a person. These past five years studying has pushed me out of my comfort zone, and it has made me realize how worthwhile it was. Not only focusing on my classes that related to my major, but also having students focus on a variety of different subjects. Going through different classes, I was able to become more flexible and well-equipped to think critically across multiple subject areas.
One of the things I really liked about my time at Goshen was how much the classes focused on collaboration. Working together with other students on projects has taught me about teamwork and problem solving. Plus, it made the learning process a lot easier and more memorable.
Outside of class, I had plenty of chances to explore new things and take on challenges. Whether it was campus projects or just getting help when I hit a wall, I always felt supported.
I had difficulties throughout my academic career, but my professors and campus resources helped me come up with ideas and new methods to keep pursuing my major. The community here really made a difference for me-it felt like everyone wanted me to succeed.
While studying at Goshen College, it opened doors for me and I was able to get hands-on experience working in IT. After I finish my bachelors, I plan on continuing my path through IT and keep learning in my field.
Overall, these past years have been a mix of learning, growing, and stepping into new opportunities