“I wanted to come to the U.S. because there is so much more opportunity. Monroe accepts your credentials and has a good management process for international students.”
A native of Jamaica, Nicholas could have attended college at home, “But I wanted to come to the U.S. because there is so much more opportunity. Luckily, Monroe is very welcoming to foreign students. They accept your credentials and have a good management process for international students.”
In one of his computer classes, Nicholas saw a flyer for a free, two-day Salesforce Bootcamp, an introduction to the customer relationship management tool used in myriad businesses. The bootcamp was spearheaded by Selina Suarez, a 2005 graduate of Monroe who is determined to bring computer skills to underrepresented groups through her nonprofit, PepUp Tech.org. The bootcamp got Nicholas hooked … and also led to an internship with Meals on Wheels of New Rochelle, a nonprofit in need of a database. “I offered to create one under Selina’s mentorship,” he says. A second internship at Brainiate Consulting broadened his experience in administration.
Summer 2017 was epic for Nicholas. He graduated from Monroe with a bachelor’s in computer information technology, and got an offer from Praxis Solutions the next day. He’s a Salesforce technical consultant, a position that requires him to be a technical resource. “I’m proficient in the development portion of Salesforce, but also in functions. I’m a problem solver, and basically handle everything in the project management lifecycle, such as solution design, requirement gathering, testing, and training.”
