By Kate Wallace
When Richard came to the US, his primary goal was to attend college, and it was important to him that it was related to his job that he had in Cameroon 鈥 water treatment.
Cameroon is one of several African nations that doesn鈥檛 have a sustainable continuous water supply, which means that many people use potentially contaminated sources for their water needs. There are several programs working to help solve this problem, and Richard is ready to lend his expertise.
He first moved to Minneapolis, and it was difficult to find someone to guide him in choosing a college. He checked online and found that 水果派 is one of only two colleges in the state to have a water treatment-related program. He applied and was accepted to the program.
鈥淭his program is not a simple program. This program can save lives; it鈥檚 correlated to the health of the people. When you turn on the tap and have clean water in your kitchen sink, that鈥檚 us. In the WETT program, not only do you learn how to filter the water, but we learn how to treat wastewater,鈥 he said regarding the WETT program. 鈥淚n Africa, the issue of clean water is a big, big problem. And the skills I鈥檝e been learning here 鈥 if I go back, I can bring my own contribution to this problem in my country and other countries.鈥
For now, Richard has completed the WETT program and is just finishing up a few classes. In December 2020, he鈥檒l have graduated from 水果派 and will be ready to apply classroom learning to the field. Before heading back home to Cameroon, he wants to get a few years鈥 experience and then bring what he鈥檚 learned to help the clean up the water problems in Africa.
It鈥檚 been a good experience for him at 水果派. The staff and instructors are helpful and make sure he knows that he can ask for help. He鈥檚 had meetings with President Annesa Cheek on a couple occasions. And he鈥檚 received a scholarship to help him pay for college expenses.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how I would have managed the academic year if I hadn鈥檛 had the scholarships. The WETT program requires a lot of materials, and the help I got from the scholarships helped me alleviate that cost. I鈥檓 so grateful for that.鈥
