Nepal is home to Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain in the world; its peak sits 29,032 feet above sea level looking over the miles of surrounding land. Nepal is also called home to Aabhash Rana, an international student here at Springfield College who majors in computer science.
You will not find Rana scaling mountains or conquering peaks of his homeland. Often you can find him among rows and rows of computers, building 3-D printers, or creating computer-generated art in the basement of Schoo-Bemis building located next to Cheney dining hall. That's where the computer science lab is. Computer science is Rana’s major, but more importantly, it's a strong passion of his.
Sixteen students from Nepal have come halfway around the world for a number of reasons: perspective, education, and opportunity. Rana is no exception when it comes to these reasons for education in America. The 21-year-old sophomore started here at Springfield in the fall of 2020 and has made the most of his time thus far.
Rana has a goal of finishing his education at Springfield and taking what he’s learned back to Nepal to give back to his community, specifically in the area of education. “I want to work at a big tech or a tech start-up in the northeast, then take what I've learned and give back to the education system of Nepal. I want to set up networks and platforms for students like Brightspace or Blackboard.”
Rana says, “I taught myself computer concepts and basic coding back in Kathmandu.” In high school, Rana learned basic computer fundamentals and took an interest almost immediately. Computer science basics is a requirement in the Nepali school system along with physics and calculus. Rana completed trigonometry at the age of 14 in seventh grade.
“Frankly Nepal places a much higher emphasis on their math and sciences compared to the school systems here. That's why you see a lot of interest in tech and engineering out of countries like Nepal and Bangladesh,” said James O’Brien, Springfield College’s Department Chair of Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science. O’Brien has a great relationship with the Nepali students at Springfield. He characterizes them as “super bright, motivated, hard-working, with an urge to contribute.”
O’Brien estimates that there are 55 undergraduate students in the major. Of those 55 undergrads, 10 are international students from Nepal. So, why the attraction to Springfield’s computer science department?
Rana claims, “The education here is much more hands-on, practical learning compared to Nepal’s text-heavy education methods.” For O’Brien, the attraction stems from a couple of different things. One is the fact that tech education begins quite early in Nepal. The other, he says, is that technological hubs like Boston and New York are not far from campus.
When O’Brien took the helm of the computer science department in 2018, he noticed some weaknesses in the curriculum and opportunities for the students. “I tried beefing up the major with improvements for more modern options,” shared O’Brien. One of these was creating a new computer science club, which was founded by Bibek Gaire (a Nepali student) and Rana in the fall of 2021.
Setting up the club presented challenges for Gaire and Rana. “We had trouble with funding and being recognized by C.A.B,” shared Gaire. However, those challenges only resided in the setting up of the club, as the club itself had no problem attracting students. On the first meeting ever the computer science club had 15 students show up and the members have stayed consistent. “I don't know if you've ever set up a club before but 15 people in the first meeting is quite a feat,” O’Brien remarked. The club offers competition among students and allows them to explore things like robotics along with “nerding out” by coding or hacking video games.
Last fall they participated in the Holyoke Hack-athon where students from the Western Mass area competed against each other, and also attended workshops. Challenges ranged from Best Remote Health Hack to Best Use of Data by MassMutual.
“The Nepal students in the computer science department don’t want to be viewed as the 10 Nepalese students; they want to be part of the Springfield College community,” shared O’Brien. The relationship between Springfield’s Nepali students and its computer science program has only benefited both parties and elevated the opportunities and possibilities for both the students and the program alike.
“They help steer the ship,” said O’Brien, of Rana and Gaire, the president and vice president of the computer science club and two star students within the program. Rana and Gaire have been tasked with helping hire new teachers for the program through candidates that perform teaching lessons. The two students help assess the candidates and give the department heads their findings and preferences based on the candidates’ performance.
Rana and Gaire have clearly established themselves as major leaders within the computer science department. Along with the other 14 students from Nepal, they are helping to deepen the Springfield College experience for all of us.
Bibek Gaire & Aabhash Rana
All photos by Aiden Fitzpatrick
Credits:
Aiden Fitzpatrick