Silivan Munguarakarama

Whitman College students tell their stories—about their unique experiences in choosing Whitman and being part of the Whitman community and what they love most. This is Silivan's story.

Silivan Munguarakarama is a sophomore from Lusaka, Zambia majoring in computer science. The Off-Campus Studies program is what initially attracted Silivan to Whitman. He is aware that he is already studying abroad while at Whitman but he’s interested in seeing more of the world while completing his degree. In addition to seeing the USA, Whitman allowed him to intern at an international organization revolutionizing education in three African countries. His internship gave him the confidence to reach out to the board member of an investment company that funds tech startups.

The “Our Whitman, My Story” podcast is a collaboration between the Whitman College Office of Communication and author and podcaster John Moe ’90. To meet more of our talented students follow Whitman on social media.

Transcript

Everyone at Whitman has a story to tell, how they got here, what happened once they did, and every story is different. This is Our Whitman, My Story.

Hello, my name is Silivan. I am currently a second year at Whitman College. I'm a computer science major. And I come from Zambia.

I heard about Whitman from my counselor. I had a college access counselor in high school. And I had an appointment with them and I gave them what I was looking for in a college. And they gave me a list of colleges that they thought would be great. So Whitman stood out the most on the list of colleges that I had received.

I remember going through Whitman's website and what stood out the most for me, though, was when I was looking at the study abroad program. I am studying abroad, but I also am very, very interested in traveling around. So I had a plan to maybe take a semester out of my study period to visit a different country and do my studies there. And I felt like I would be in good hands if I came to Whitman.

So that's how I ended up drifting towards Whitman College. I was looking at South Africa. I was looking at Ghana. I was looking at South Korea. And I was looking at the UK. Only to go to South Korea because I feel, and I know, that there's a lot of emphasis on technology in South Korea and I felt that if I took a semester there maybe I would establish a good network with young computer scientists.

But then I also wanted to go to South Africa and Ghana because my country Zambia is from Southern Africa. And one of my drives for computer science is really to bridge the gap in technological access for most African countries compared to, let's say, the US or Europe. And I felt that if I went to Ghana or South Africa, I would be taking courses and learning about computer science, but then I would also have a firsthand experience and integrate with the community and have an idea of what areas exactly to start with if I wanted to invest in technology on the African continent. Yeah.

So my interest in computer science, like I touched on before, stemmed from just noticing that there's a very, very huge gap between the technological advancements on the African continent. To be honest, though, at the time I was thinking more from my country's perspective, but now that I've been able to step out and look at other African countries as well, I feel we can say the same for most of them.

When I was a kid, I was interested in electronics a lot, so my parents would get me toys. I remember at the peak of the Sony Walkman my parents got me a Walkman, but I took it apart like the next day. And I think I might have broken something in there and it never worked again. But it was really cool to see the insides.

So I would take my toys apart and then put them back together. And with time I'd buy a new phone and then maybe try to mess with the software or open it and see what's inside. And I think that's how I kept building interest in just technology and electronics.

And then when I went to school as well, we would have these career days where people from different fields would come in and serve as mentors and tell us about their fields and just give us advice. And I would never hear much about technology or just computer science or IT. I think it'll be mentioned as a field, but there was no one who would come there.

So I didn't feel represented or anything. But then at the same time, my school was shifting. We were getting new computer items, we're getting new computers in our computer lab. In fact, we didn't have a computer lab before in my high school. Then we put a computer lab in. It felt like there was so much shift towards technology, but no one was really invested in it.

And I began to realize that not that many people… I think most of the kids in my country want to be doctors, or lawyers, or just like the careers that are very common. I felt like there was a very big gap between my country and other countries whose content I was consuming. And mostly that was the UK and the USA.

So I have a student job and I work at the Career and Community Engagement Center, CCEC. So I help when students come in looking for maybe appointments or information on careers, internship opportunities, or job opportunities. I am a beneficiary of a Whitman Internship Grant, where they fund students who find unpaid internships and make sure that they have those experiences without having to worry about the financial difficulties that come with working.

My internship was back home in my country. So I had to fly back to Zambia. And I was working at a company called Edulution. And the word Edulution actually comes from two phrases, education revolution. So Edulution is a company that is looking to revolutionize education through technology. And basically the company just reaches out to remote areas and teaches kids there through technology, whereas normal government institutions and infrastructure is not readily available.

And you have all these workshops that you take part in. And I remember one of them was an elevator pitch. That I had never heard of. I didn't know what it was. So I completed this training or workshop about an elevator pitch.

And I remember when I was flying back home from my country, coming back to the USA for my next semester, I sat next to somebody on the plane, right? And I was thinking and I was listening to music and watching movies on the plane, like most people do. And I have this person sitting right next to me. And I thought to myself, "Wait, I took this workshop about elevator pitches. Let me just talk to the person next to me."

So I flagged them down and I started talking to them. And within a minute, I told them I was from Whitman, I'm looking to enter in computer science, and my interests. And they're like, "Oh, I happen to be on a board of companies that fund tech startups in Africa." And he gave me his contact, and he's like, "If you ever have a startup or an idea and you're working on something, please reach out to me and I'll be able to help you if I can." And I was like, "Wow." Yeah, so.

When you come to Whitman, there's a first year seminar that you have. And I think the themes are different depending on the time that you join Whitman College. It was at the time of the Black Lives Matter protests. So our theme was centered around that. And it's an interesting dynamic, because I come from an African country. And it's quite different there, because you're the majority in that. So you never have to think about your skin in relation to who you are as an identity, right?

So I remember during the Black Lives Matter discussions that we had in my course in my first year seminar, it was a very confusing time because I was finding out about this identity that I have that I didn't know about. Yeah, I think I did a lot of questioning because I never had to think about my identity. So I did a lot of reflection and just questioning and understanding the details surrounding how people identify.

I'm Silivan and this has been Our Whitman, My Story. There are more episodes of Our Whitman, My Story available right now wherever you get your podcasts. For more information, go to whitman.edu/stories.

Music for this episode provided by the band Wind Up Birds, which is made up entirely of current Whitman College students.