Help Emily continue her education abroad

Help Emily continue her education abroad and become a Data Scientist!

Everything happens for a reason: a lesson I keep learning

I’m Emily, a young girl with long-term impactful goals and unlimited positive energy. I’m proud to call myself Armenian and am currently about to proceed with my 2nd year of studies in Spain at IE University. After successfully finishing my first year, I returned to Armenia in the summer and started acting toward my community’s development. I have grown immensely during the 10 months that I spent in Spain and discovered so many things that can be implemented in Armenia so I began my work to contribute to our country’s future.

I became a board member of the Youth Development Center of Armenia, helped with the organisation of the Feminno conference and Sevan Startup Summit, and recently have been chosen as the President of the Google Developer Students Club at my university. All this wouldn’t have been possible without the knowledge I gained when studying abroad. Simultaneously, I’m working 2 jobs in order to support my living expenses and diminish the burden on my parents as I have never been from a rich family, and due to my mom’s health issues only my father provides for our family.

Even though my parents always wanted to finance my future success by giving me higher education, affording to study abroad was financially impossible for them. But studying has always been a priority for me and I wouldn’t let money stand on my way. Last year through the generosity of donors and Sona Mnatsakanyan's scholarship award we raised 5,840 euros and managed to fully cover my tuition for the first year. This year, I’m happy to share that I have received the AGBU scholarship in the amount of 2000$. However, I’m still missing 3000€ to be able to continue my studies without being worried about paying for my tuition.

_____________________________________________________________________________

When I was little I drew a picture of nature with beautiful trees, flowers, and a human. My dad asked me why I had drawn a human there and I answered: “because he needs to take care of nature.” The idea of being a part of nature and protecting it has always led me to be involved in youth work, volunteering, and activism to solve environmental issues.

As a perfectionist, I excelled in all my studies and graduated with a red diploma. Education has been one of the most crucial parts of my life and it has been my dream to receive a quality education abroad. In 2020 I was selected as one of the brightest students and received an HMC reduced fee scholarship, which allowed me to continue my education in the United Kingdom. However, because of financial issues, I wasn’t able to accept this offer. I was devastated but giving up is not for me, 2 years have passed and the fire in me to achieve my goals never disappeared. Since then I have fought every single day to self-develop and step by step get closer to my dream.

The results of my profound work are now visible. I got accepted into universities all over the world (France, the U.S.A, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Lithuania, and Bulgaria). My final choice is IE University in Spain, which is considered a World Top 30 Digital university and Top 3 Innovative university in Europe. IE University provided me with the highest amount “IE High Potential Award”, which will cover 85% of my tuition fees. Furthermore, I was selected for the IE Foundation Fellows Program, which is a select group of their most talented students who are given the opportunity to engage in a series of exclusive initiatives as students and designated as key impact ambassadors for the institution.

During my life, I had an interest in many fields but found my passion in Data Science and Marketing. The major that I chose is Data and Business Analytics. Yes! I want to be a woman in STEM and use my strong critical thinking abilities in practice. I have done thorough research and realized how powerful data is in our reality. That’s why I wrote a research paper called “How data is used to manipulate people on Social Media”. I wish to harness the power of data to transform the world and solve the most pressing challenges of businesses and institutions in Armenia, bringing innovative and distinguishable ideas to my country.

The tuition fee to attend the university is 22,800 euros per year. Thanks to the scholarship, the amount left to pay is just 5,700 euros. Considering the fact that I have living expenses in Spain and my family needs to finance it in the amount of 6000-7000 euros per year, paying the tuition fee will cause difficulties.

I cannot let the chance of receiving a quality education at one of the most prestigious universities slip away and leave hallway through. Based on all this, I ask all the kind-hearted people who appreciate the value of education to invest in my future academic achievements. Even your minimal contribution will help me get closer to my dream!

I’m convinced that full of new ideas and bright acquaintances, I will be back and strengthen the Armenian technological world, bringing new solutions to complex problems that will create life-changing contributions to my community.

Thank you very much to all the people who are willing to help.

P.S. Below I attached some references that might interest you.

Acceptance Letter:

Research Paper: educationusablog by Emili Khachatrayan