"My life has taken many twists and turns—it was not a straight path. I share this with my students so that they can be reassured that whatever happens, they will be okay. When I was in high school, I wanted to become a doctor because all my family members said I needed to be a doctor. I think this mentality is still relevant because there’s always a worry about whether you’ll have a job later or not and that you should either be an engineer or a doctor for job safety reasons. That’s the pressure I had growing up, and that happens to many students because there is a lot of say from family members. And we are at the age where we can't necessarily advocate for ourselves so much because we don't know ourselves enough. I knew fairly early on that sciences were not for me. I was a good student, so my marks were great; but for me, I decided to pursue a very different path than what was organized for me and decided to go to America to explore the possibilities.
Now, in contrast to the students here where you have the support and resources to learn about which schools would be a good fit for you, I decided to apply to schools in the US without any guidance. I applied to a few small schools because I did not want to be a number amongst a large student population and it helped that I received some scholarships as well. I ended up at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. While there, I had an opportunity to work in the admissions office as a student ambassador. And I totally fell in love with it because I was talking to parents, future students and helping the admissions staff. It opened me to a world that I did not know before and this ultimately, became my career path.
I pursued a graduate program in international development and education policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. Ultimately, I wanted to understand how we can design effective policies to ensure that students are future-ready and equipped with all the skills to prepare them for the uncertainties of a changing world.
After a few more years in the States, in 2018, I returned back to Nepal to be with my family which is my home country. I started working at an organization called Nepal Leadership Academy, a small nonprofit focusing on leadership and capacity development training. Although it was a nonprofit, I oversaw the operations and business aspects of the organization and learnt a lot about the "behind the scenes" of running an organization. Through all of my experiences, there is one thing that has remained consistent - I really enjoy working with young minds and helping them achieve their best self. Saints has been a good space for me to practice this further.
Comments