Student Excellence Expo

Student Bios

Mohammed is a sixteen-year-old high school and college student with a passion for writing. Creating figments of the imagination is a daily endeavor of his which he seems unable to constrict. When time allows, he gives breath to his imagination on the written page. Mohammed has been dreaming up magical worlds and populating them with mystical beings since childhood. He fears that without his wild imagination and zest for writing he would become caught in the monotony of life, a fear which he has turned into yet another platform for his imagination to leap from.

I am Mian Qin. I am currently a student at Montgomery College and will be graduating in summer 2008. I was born in Tianjin, China, where I finished high school and went to college as an art major. I have been learning drawing since I was four and it became my favorite hobby. In 2006, I came to the United States and enrolled Montgomery College as a business major. So far, I have been getting straight A's in my classes and being active in a variety of activities on the campus. My favorite artist is Alice Neel. My dream career is to be a cultural emissary between the United States and China. I would like to hold gallery shows in both countries for resident artists.  

Meg Lambert is in her second semester at Montgomery College, Rockville. She is currently balancing Honors classes with active participation in the Womyn’s Studies Student Group, the MC Ambassadors, and, as one of three vice presidents for the new environmental club, MC Green. In the spring she will also be volunteering for the Newseum in Washington, DC. She is passionate about humanitarian subjects and issues, such as history and archaeological preservation, women’s studies, the psychological ramifications of entertainment media, and deaf culture. She hopes to transfer to a women’s college such as Smith College or Mount Holyoke College and major in either women’s studies or medieval studies before continuing her education in Ireland or Great Britain.

My name is Tammi West. I am a student at Montgomery College and was recently accepted to Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing to earn my Bachelor's degree in Nursing. My current GPA is about 3.65. I was born and raised in Maryland. I plan to one day be a midwife.

One of Elizabeth Wallace's favorite quotes is from Shrek: "Stars don't tell the future, Donkey.  They tell stories."  Her first-hand experience with the power of oral storytelling was seeing how children responded enthusiastically to stories told in her Passport to Korea and Passport to Mali cultural immersion camps for which she developed the curriculum.  She enjoyed drafting amateur and professional storytellers from former Peace Corps members, to a West African griot, to the sports editor of the Korean Embassy's online newsletter.  With the help of Prof. Harold Williams, from whom she took Astronomy 101 this past fall, she plans to produce Look Up! The StarryTelling Festival on June 21 to introduce children of all ages to astronomy and space exploration through stories which come to us through oral storytellers, dancers, singers and scientists.  Before she had all this fun, for 29 years she owned and operated  a travel document expediting business which she founded at the age of 22 in Washington DC.  A Takoma Park resident and mother of two, Elizabeth is looking forward to her new career as a producer of entertaining educational events.  Move over, Disney!

Raissa Sarah Noubissie is a 20 year-old (soon to be 21) woman from Cameroon (Central Africa). She has attended Montgomery College (Germantown campus) since August 2005 as a pre-med student. In May 2008 she will complete her Associate of Arts degree and transfer to a four-year school to earn a bachelor’s degree in dual-major Chemistry/Psychology. Later on, Raissa would like to become a psychiatrist because she thinks the mind is such an amazing world to explore and understand. At the Student Expo event, she will share with people the great experience she had during her internship last summer at the Smithsonian Center for Folk life and Cultural Heritage.

Bill Lake is a non-traditional student.  He is a retired mechanical engineer who has a B.S. and an M.S. in mechanical engineering.  Bill worked as an engineer for about 35 years before retiring.  In the spring semester of 2006, he enrolled in a course on mythology at Montgomery College.  He enjoyed the experience so much that he has continued as a part-time student.  He has taken courses in literature, philosophy, and history.  Bill’s presentation is on The Winter’s Tale, a play by William Shakespeare that was studied in the Shakespeare Tutorial offered by Dr. Jamin at Montgomery College in the fall semester of 2007.

Hummira Pasha is a full time student at Montgomery College Germantown Campus. She helps the first year students transition smoothly into college by serving as a First Year Experience (FYE) Student Ambassador. Hummira has been working as a Student Assistant at the Financial Aid Office since 2006, and hopes to transfer to the University of Maryland. Her goal in life is to help the community by becoming a pediatrician and serving those in need. Hummira is actively involved in many college life events, and has been hosting the International Night Cultural Show since Spring of 2007, and hopes for another wonderful show in April 2008!

My name is David Galbraith and I am 19 years old. I am currently completing an Associate of Arts degree at Montgomery College Rockville, after which I will transfer to a University in the Wasington, DC area to major in International Relations. I am currently working in the Montgomery Scholars program on my capstone thesis which I explore the relationship between globalization and the modern militant jihad. I am also learning Arabic, among other things, and am considering pursuing graduate studies in the language. I have a personal enthusiasm for languages and am fluent in Spanish. I hope one day to achieve fluency in Arabic as well. My hobbies include art, photography, music composition, and playing the guitar.

Hello, my name is Hideh Kalantary. I am from Iran .I went to the university in my country and earned my bachelor's degree in translation. I came to the United States two years ago. Now I am a student at Montgomery College. My major is pre-dentistry. Last semester I registered for Arabic language. I learned a lot and I became familiar with this culture. I am interested in learning other languages and other cultures. My goal is to finish college successfully and transfer to dental school. My hobby is reading novels. My favorite sports are karate, swimming, and tennis.

Capability, intelligence, and diligence are all qualities that are synonymous with my name, Roxann Wellington. I am a Jamaican by birth, and I migrated to the United States and started my high school experience. I graduated from Paint Branch High School. During my time there, I helped organize fundraising events for Katrina victims. Being active in the community has always been a passion of mine, and I am happy to have participated in a formal debate at the Maryland Capitol Forum. There, I could actively voice my concerns and discuss possible foreign policies the United States could adopt on immigration.  At Montgomery College, I enjoy the quiet atmosphere. Attending Montgomery College, I consider myself being a part of a family. I appreciate the diversity and hardworking professors. Without them I would not have developed a high level of dedication and organizational skill.  This has helped me develop academically at Montgomery College. I am also proud to be a part of the Phi Theta Kappa honors society. Using the resources at Montgomery College enabled me to participate in the internship program at the Library of Congress. Overall, Montgomery College has been one of the stepping stones in my life that will open many doors for me in the future.

Michelle Engelmann – The e-PHR in a Flash! I am a returning student majoring in Health Information Technology. I currently hold a 3.74 overall GPA with a 4.0 GPA in my major, and I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa. I graduate this coming May and will take my certification exams within six months of graduation. My hope is to get a job in the medical coding field. I am a student member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). I am also the Montgomery College student liaison to the Board of the Directors for the District of Columbia Health Information Management Association (DCHIMA), of which I am a student member. I am the student editor of the HIT Department Newsletter “The Outlier.” I’ve done legislative lobbying on a variety of health care related issues at both the state and national levels. I am the first generation American-born in my family. My parents and other family members escaped from Hungary after the Holocaust and moved here to the United States. When I was growing up we moved often, so filling out the family’s medical forms when we switched healthcare providers became quite a chore for everyone.  I’ve always thought there had to be an easier way. That’s when I came up with the e-PHR on a flash drive.

I am a sophomore and I go to all three campuses. My major is International Business and I will be transferring to a four-year institution this fall. I love working with students, be it in a club, or in a class; I worked with freshmen as mentor for DS 107, DS 104 and DS 112 classes and certainly it was a rewarding experience. I have been involved at all three campuses and the experience has been great so far. After I saw the Bollywood movie Traffic Signal, I decided to pass the message to larger community, and SEE gave me that platform. I hope you all will enjoy the presentation.

Activities On Campus

• President of Bollywood Club, Volunteer Club
• Senator-At-Large Takoma Park/Silver Spring
• Part of MC Lead at Rockville Campus
• Organizing “MC Idol” Spring 2008 ( all three campuses)
• Part of Budget Panel at Rockville Campus
• New Student Orientation Leader at Germantown Campus
• Renaissance Scholar
• Staff write for Advocate – School Newspaper