Gasia Atashian’s Reflections
Education has always been my inspiration in life. Despite the war in my birthplace of Syria that had me living in terrible conditions, I overcame difficulties and resettled in Armenia without losing that inspiration.
My journey at the American University of Armenia began in 2014 when I received a scholarship to study computer science, allowing me to fully concentrate on my studies. The friendly environment at AUA was a key contributor to my quick academic and social adjustment. The clubs and volunteer opportunities at AUA helped me become more comfortable in the school.
With hard work, I achieved the Republic of Armenia Annual Presidential IT Award 2015 for Best Diaspora student in Armenia as I demonstrated a strong academic performance in my classes and maintained a 3.99 GPA. This experience motivated me to further learn and excel while expanding my knowledge. In addition to my regular classes, I completed online courses related to my field, participated in summer math school and attended intensive machine learning training at PicsArt, where I completed real-life machine learning projects.
While at AUA, I enlarged my social circle and became even more involved in the school by joining the Young Professionals Network. I also became a Peer Mentor for new AUA students, which was my favorite program because I enjoyed helping incoming students adjust to AUA and help them overcome difficulties in their new surroundings.
I consider myself to be among the few fortunate people whose life wasn’t ruined because of the war. Instead, it got better. The war changed the course of my life, but through my hard work and the support of AUA, I am creating a brighter future for myself.
My success at AUA is due to of two things—I worked extremely hard to achieve my academic goals and, like so many other AUA students, I have been blessed by support from scholarship donors. I want to excel and contribute to the betterment of Armenia and to one day support other scholarship recipients at AUA as an expression of my deep appreciation for the profound difference their generosity has made in my life.
Gasia Atashian received her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the American University of Armenia (Class of 2018). She is the recipient of the Adam & Rita Kablanian Scholarship.