Imagine being raised in rural Georgia, confederate flags on every corner, but coming from a Pakistani immigrant family. This was very much the reality of Wajeeha Mehr, a first generation, brown woman. Navigating and growing up in a place she felt like she never belonged. In this essay I will go over Wajeeha Mehr’s past, present, and future academic ambitions, and struggles.
Wajeeha shared with me her experiences as a first-generation college student, including the challenges of changing her major and her aspirations for the future. She grew up in a household where education was highly valued, which greatly influenced her character. Wajeeha completed the International Baccalaureate program at Douglas County High School, and when I inquired about her favorite academic memory, she spoke fondly of her time in art club and the sense of community it provided, along with her enjoyment of her teachers and classmates.
While she felt like she was finding her groove in high school, abruptly, her senior year was interrupted by Covid-19, which resulted in her having no prom, senior dinner, and a graduation where the only attendees were parents. She talks about how after Covid-19 many of her academic experiences felt surreal. She does go more into detail on how she struggled with face-to-face classes but also how she dreaded returning to Zoom classes. In Melissa Ezarik article “COVID-Era College: Are Students Satisfied?” The author talks about something similar.
Once she had her Covid graduation, the summer after Wajeeha was faced with an important task: how will I proceed with FASFA. “It was a new experience, I had to do it mostly by myself. Parents could not help, and it was hard doing FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), since mom and dad did not know the process of applying to college.” She goes into more detail on how she did not understand FAFSA, and how it was a frustrating process and how eventually she needed to go to a cousin for assistance.
In the first two years of her attending Georgia State University, she majored in Biology and was planning to get a bachelor’s degree in the subject. She changed her major to Computer Science and made Biology her minor. I questioned her why she chose those subjects and why she changed Biology to be her minor. She replied, “I really enjoy biology; learning about earth, the process of the human body, and evolution…but I do not want to become a doctor, I wanted to become a researcher but realized that they don’t make much money.” She also gave me reasons as to why she chose CS, “It’s a growing industry and if I can’t become a researcher, I can just become a Computer Scientist.” She will continue to do what she admires but in a unique way, by going into Computational Biology.
Wajeeha is vigorous in everything she does, she has talked about how it does not matter what she is doing, she will put all her energy into the task. Wajeeha still has activities she hopes to complete before she graduates. She desires to complete projects in Computer Science (CS), make an app specializing in Biology, join an internship that will help her get a future job, and travel. She balances her vigorousness with patience. She categorizes herself as money-driven because she wants to shop without worrying about price. She fantasies about having enough money to follow her ambitions. She is avid because she is always enquiring about new concepts and sharing her expertise with others. Because of her chosen career path, she has several challenging assignments. In moments like those she used successful strategies. Some of them being putting away distractions, playing calm tunes, and focusing on her assignments. Her methods reminded me of Dr. Chew’s, in his video titled “How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 1 of 5, “Beliefs That Make You Fail… Or Succeed”” he explains ways to study successfully and unsuccessfully.
Earning money plays a crucial factor in many students’ academic goals. This relates to Wajeeha’s dilemma of wanting to become a researcher but because of her preference, wealth is more significant. I empathize with this statement as someone who has a similar background, I recently changed my major, for many reasons one of them being having better chances of being wealthy. This makes me question “Is the purpose of college for most students is money?”
Citations
Ezarik, Melissa. Student Experiences during COVID and Campus Reopening Concerns, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/24/student-experiences-during-covid-and-campus-reopening-concerns?utm_source=pocket_mylist.
SamfordCommunication, director. How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 1 of 5, “Beliefs That Make You Fail… Or Succeed”. YouTube, YouTube, 16 Aug. 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH95h36NChI&ab_channel=SamfordUniversity. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023.