Ezequiel (or Zeke) is a 17-year-old international student from the Dominican Republic. After conducting an interview and taking notes about Zeke, I have learned that he is a hard worker, who is determined at being the best student he could be. This is his second semester at Georgia State, and he has already established the fact that he is a responsible student, who works hard to achieve straight A’s every semester.
Zeke attended Las Palmas Christian School from 6th to 12th grade. Las Palmas Christian School is a private bilingual school, where almost all of his classes were taught in English. This school is where he learned the majority of his English and is the reason why he can speak it so fluently. He still lives in the Dominican Republic and has to attend Georgia State online because of the Coronavirus, but he hopes that travel will be safer later this year so that he can attend school in person. He chose to attend Georgia State because he knew he wanted to go to college, but he wanted to study abroad so that he could get a better education. With a major in Computer Science, Zeke wants to work in the field of AI (artificial intelligence). Zeke says he wants to go into AI because he wants to “revolutionize technology”. He continues his explanation by saying “it’s an underdeveloped field, I want to help research and discover stuff to see how AI can be helpful in our lives.”
With academic and career goals like Zeke, one needs to be very disciplined, determined, and hardworking. These three words accurately describe Zeke’s academic self. He is a responsible student and takes his classes very seriously. He works hard to achieve good grades and makes sure that he puts all of his effort into every assignment he has. He’s determined to do things right the first time and doesn’t let himself get too off-track when it comes to his schoolwork. One thing he takes pride in academically is that he was able to maintain excellent grades throughout high school which led to his acceptance at Georgia State.
His parents and girlfriend are his biggest influences when it comes to doing well academically. Both his parents and his girlfriend want the best future for him and push him to be his best academic self. He is aware that his parents spent a lot of money for him to be able to go to school here, so he wants to achieve the best grades he possibly can. He knows how important an education is to him and his family. This connects to his favorite reading that we had in class so far which was the “Taking My Parents to College” article by Jennine Capó Cruce. When I asked him why this was his favorite reading, he said that in a way, he could relate to Jennine’s experience in college. Although he doesn’t attend college in person, he has parents who have never attended college in the United States, so he had to figure out the whole college application process by himself.
With all of his academic and career goals, Zeke also mentioned that he wants to make enough money from his career so that he can help his country. He wants to improve the economy in his country and wants to make a business and provide jobs for people in the Dominican Republic. He has proved through his excellent grades, and his acceptance to Georgia State how disciplined, determined, and hardworking he is. I find it impressive that Zeke is so determined and goal-oriented when it comes to his schoolwork. As a 17-year-old myself, I still don’t know exactly what I want to do with my life after college, but Zeke has it all planned out and has proven that he is dedicated to his work and studies even though he’s in a different country, and I admire him for that.
Citations:
Acevedo, Ezequiel L. Personal Interview. 1 February 2021.