Student Stories
Ronin Ganoot
Why did you decide to study Computer Science at 窪圖勛蹋厙?
As a kid I always loved going onto the computer and playing video games. As I grew older, I started to think about choosing a career, and I liked the idea of a job that involves technology. I grew up in Hawaii on the island of Oahu, and I knew that after I graduated high school I wanted to go to college on the mainland. I found 窪圖勛蹋厙 from their Island Raider program, where an admissions counselor visited the islands and told us about 窪圖勛蹋厙. One of my reasons for picking 窪圖勛蹋厙 was the WUE (Western Undergraduate Exchange) scholarship, which I received as a resident of Hawaii. Although I wanted to study on the mainland, I still wanted to be around a community of others like me. When I found out that 窪圖勛蹋厙 had a lot of students from Hawaii and other Pacific Islands, I knew that I had found my place.
What did you like most about your time at 窪圖勛蹋厙?
During my time at 窪圖勛蹋厙, everything was new. I enjoyed meeting new people, living in a new environment, and creating new experiences. I loved seeing snow for the first time; even though I was freezing, it was still a new and fun experience. I joined Hoopaa Hawaii club, which was a way for students from Hawaii to form a community, and share Hawaiian culture with the rest of the university.
I enjoyed every single Computer Science class I took, even the really hard ones. I liked the challenge that came with learning a new concept and then being able to apply what Id learned in a project. Even when classes were on Zoom during the pandemic, the professors made learning feel interactive; sometimes I even felt like I was still in the classroom.
How has your time at 窪圖勛蹋厙 prepared you for a career in Computer Science?
窪圖勛蹋厙s Computer Science department has a great collection of professors that understand the professional industry and truly care about their students growth. The professors always encouraged students to do extracurricular activities, whether it was for fun or to get more experience in the field. As one of their students, I learned a lot of lessons that led me to develop my soft skills, problem solving, computational thinking, and working with others.
In my junior year at 窪圖勛蹋厙, I was part of a HackOR Hackathon team. We developed a game from scratch in Java. We were really only targeting the funny category, but we ended up winning 1st place overall. I think this is a testament to how hard we worked, our teamwork, and the technical skills we had learned from the professors classes.
Tell us a little about your career path.
My first jobs started in my sophomore year at 窪圖勛蹋厙, where I worked in IT as a Classroom Support Student Worker. I wanted to gain experience in a field I know was going to benefit me for future professional roles. It was fun to help professors with their technology issues, and learn more about command line scripts to update computers.
After my junior year I interned at Hawaii Pacific Health in their Design and Construction Department. I gained exposure to the healthcare industry, which I thought was a great opportunity to learn more about. I assisted project managers of the department in their stand-ups and other processes. I even got to travel to the other islands of Hawaii and learn about the projects at the other hospitals. Although I didnt learn any programming, I was able to practice my soft skills and learn about project management, which really came in handy during my capstone project.
My capstone project was a Template Manager application for the Jackson County IT department. I learned C# and Microsoft SQL Server, which were both brand new to me.
After graduating, I applied for a job at Jackson County IT. Id really liked working with them during capstone, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to work somewhere that helps out our Rogue Valley community. I still work for Jackson County IT as a Programmer Analyst II.
