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Help Jonathan Isengingo Stay at OSU

UPDATE:  Thank you to all who are dontating. We are also receiving tax deductible donations direct to the church scholarship fund payable to  First Presbyterian Church of Corvallis 114 SW 8th Street, Corvallis OR 97333.  If you are part of the First Pres or Corvallis community and can send a check then this is best. These are the types of situations and people that we help with that fund. 

 A word from Jonathan:
I am an international student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, studying Civil Engineering at Oregon State University. I came in the United States in March 2014. My first language being French, when I graduated from high school, I took an accelerated program of English, sat for my TOEFL and my SAT and got accepted at OSU. This academic year (2017-2018) is my last year before graduation.

I want to work in the construction industry, specifically in the design of structures (bridges, buildings, dams). I am also interested in the design of roads and highways. After graduation, I want to work in industry for some years (in the United States preferably). I am planning on taking the FE exam (Fundamentals of Engineering), becoming an EIT (Engineer In Training) and then taking the PE exam to become a Professional Engineer.Then I would like to come back to school to get a Master degree in the field that I will find the most promising in the future.

Unfortunately, my family has been going through very serious problems. Since last year, my country has been going through a lot of political instability. National elections were supposed to happen in November 2016 but the serving president and his government announced, without proofs, that there couldn't be any elections for lack of funds. This was obviously very controversial and the population went to the streets. Since then, there have been several killings and riots in different regions of the country. The leader of the opposition passed away recently (that was from natural cause) and people got even more hopeless. All this drove foreign investors out of the country very fast. Inflation grew rapidly and a major bank failed. This series of events put our family business in big troubles. It is a consulting firm that help foreign companies to get established in our country. Payments that my mother was waiting for got delayed and others cancelled. It is a small business and we were not expecting that the political unrest and economic struggles would stay for more than a year now. We tried to get a student loan from an american bank but because my brother (living in Maryland) and myself are not americans, the loan was not granted. We tried to reach out to an american couple friends with my parents but they declined.

Now we are in a difficult position. I have only one year left but I may not be able to graduate after all. All the resources that have been invested so far will be completely lost. I have been orphan of father since I was 15 years old. He had cancer. Both my mother and my father have done their best to give to all of us the best education they could afford. And even with my father not alive anymore, my mother worked hard to give me the same level of education as my siblings had. I work as hard as I can (my current GPA is 3.23) and I get some scholarships from the university. Unfortunately, it is not enough to cover all the tuition. I was selected to become an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for a class I took my Sophomore year and I am still doing it. Many instructors I have had in the past can testify that I am a good student.

I hope you will understand my situation.

Sincerely,

Jonathan
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Donations 

  • Chuck and Linda Schmidt
    • $250 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer

Matt Gough
Organizer
Corvallis, OR

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