My name is King Sambonge, twenty-six years old and I come from Angola. I love to go karting and play chess. I am the president of the chess club at North Seattle College. I was already working in Angola when I decided that I would want to continue my education in the U.S. to sharpen my skills.
I have always wanted to study computer science but we didn’t have a major in my country. We only have engineers in information which is not exactly the same as computer science. About two years ago, I did an online research and found out that Amazon sponsors the Computer Science field in North Seattle College. I’ve always wanted to work in the big tech companies; Amazon is my dream company. I’ve learned that a lot of the curriculum at North Seattle College is catered to Amazon tech professions so I took the opportunity. Seattle is a mecha for technology and tech companies. I really want to become a software engineer.
One of the reasons why I chose community college over universities is because of the close-knit community. I feel like I’m just not a number and many in my department and administration know me as a student. I’m in many different roles at my school ranging from student leader to TRIO peer mentor. As also an international student, there’s more resources available for me.
I’ve experienced financial barriers which were out of my control. There’s an economic crisis in my country and as a result, it plummeted our currency. I was really thinking about whether I could continue my education or not. Thankfully, there are resources such as the Benefit HUBS that provide support such as emergency grants to help me with housing. They helped me during the Fall Quarter and even helped me move. They also paid for a month’s worth of rent after moving. There is also this thing called the NSC Cares funding from anonymous sponsors and providing some students with the rest of the tuition they owe in the quarter. You can apply for it every quarter. I also benefited from the scholarships that the school foundation offers per quarter.
I do think there would be a lot of impact if college is made free. I think it will improve graduation time and that means that those who prolong their education due to financial reasons will be able to finish their education on time. Graduation will increase substantially. Stress management is a huge factor in education. I was going through a lot of stress during the time I had financial problems. It was hard to focus on studying and consistently have good grades when you can’t stop thinking about how you’re going to continue living or school. Cost of education doesn’t just cover tuition but other wraparound services like housing and transportation. I think with free education, this will lessen the burden to students and improve the quality of life. As I said before, there are a lot of resources at North Seattle College that support students. I noticed though that a lot of students missed out on information on the available resources that they have. Being a student leader, we’ve done tremendous work on trying to get this information to students. I organized our campus to set up a campus resources specialist who gives the information to students. I also do want to advocate for student friendly housing where the colleges can vouch if they do a credit check. There are students who do not have social security to provide.
King Sambonge, Seattle