Student Junior Djoumessi, second from right, participated in a student panel at DCCCD Conference Day. He is pictured with SASS Center Director Paula Guidry, math professor Minh Nguyen and Eastfield President Eddie Tealer.
Junior Djoumessi moved to the United States three years ago from Cameroon to live with his uncle's family in Mesquite.
He started his studies at Eastfield with ESOL classes and then enrolled in the automotive technology program. He works part-time in the department under Elias Alba.
Junior plans to finish his automotive training but now wants to pursue a career in civil engineering. His goal is to transfer to the University of Texas at Arlington in the spring or fall and eventually earn his doctorate.
"I am very proud to be a son of Eastfield," Junior said.
Junior has a 3.7 GPA, is a member of PTK and was selected by the SASS Center to attend MathFest 2019, the Mathematical Association of America's research and education conference held in Denver in August.
"I plan to share my experiences and knowledge that I will gain from obtaining my degree with other students who are interested in STEM careers as a way to give back to the community," he wrote in his MathFest application.
"The second career goal that I want to accomplish with my automotive degree is to one day open up my own automotive shop where I would allow students to be interns and gain valuable knowledge. This would be another concrete example of a way that I would give back to my community."