Kenrick — A Conversation with Kenrick Mark Coleman Features Mishek Musa
The Kenrick Mark Coleman Foundation
Kenrick — A Conversation with Kenrick Mark Coleman Features Mishek Musa
1. Tell us a little about yourself.
Well, I grew up in Belize City. I’m currently 22 years old. I recently completed my Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (with a minor in Math; my mother never lets me forget that part!) at the University of Arkansas. I am continuing my education by pursuing a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. When I’m not drowning in school work I enjoy messing around with my 3D printer, reading science fiction, going to the gym and I’ve recently become interested in rock climbing.
2. You recently completed your Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Arkansas, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. What do you believe is important in this your role?
I was always firm on wanting to study Math and the Sciences from a young age, however I was never sure exactly what area I wanted to get into. This is why I chose Mechanical Engineering. As a degree, it is broad and gives you the liberty to go into whatever field you like, such as design, manufacturing or controls and even areas such as technical sales and law. Virtually every object we interact with in our daily lives was touched by a mechanical engineer at some point from its conception as an idea, to its manufacturing stage, to the final delivered product. I believe mechanical engineering allows me to explore my creative side by coming up with ideas for new technology or designing parts that push the limits of what is possible.
3. Tell us more about your academic life at this University? How did you receive the scholarship? Why did you choose this particular University? When did you commence studies? What subject areas are focused on? What’s your relationship like with fellow students?
After completing my Associate degree in Math and Physics at SJCJC in Belize City in 2016, I transferred to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville Arkansas, USA.
I received the Caribbean Tuition Advantage Award which allows transferring international students from Caribbean nations to receive a percentage off the out-of-state portion of the tuition based on merit (a 3.2 and up translates to a 90% reduction). Throughout my three years here I also received smaller scholarships from the department as well as from the company I worked part time for. I now work as a teaching assistant for the department and that comes with a monthly stipend as well as a tuition waiver.
The University of Arkansas, as random as that may sound to most people back home, is actually situated in one of the most thriving regions of the US. Fayetteville, Arkansas has consistently been ranked in the top 5 places to live in the US and three of the largest companies in the world have their headquarters situated in the North West Arkansas Region and they donate a lot of resources to the university, especially research funding.
My particular subject areas of interest are in control system design, robotics and medical technologies. As an undergraduate I was fortunate enough to be a part of the NASA robotic mining competition team, which is where my interest in robotics came about, and now as I transition to my graduate studies my research focus will be on soft robotics and medical technologies. I think the area of robotics is particularly interesting because of how multidisciplinary it is, and it promotes an open communication line between different types of engineers (mechanical, electrical and computer science) to achieve a common goal. This created a very nice working environment with my fellow students and in general, the people in this region are kind and helpful to those who aren’t from around here.
4. Describe your transformation process from Belize to the USA?.
Moving from Belize to the US definitely took a lot of lifestyle adjustment and learning to be independent. Back home I lived with my parents and had a car where I could easily drive to school, get something to eat or go to a friend’s house. When I moved here I was pretty much alone, save for the few Belizeans I also knew coming to this university. I had to learn to do a lot of the things (I normally relied on my parents for) on my own; learning to manage money, paying bills and taxes, cooking for myself, actually waking up in time to go to my 7:30 AM classes on a cold winter morning and trying to get around without a car.
Cities in the US are huge and spread far apart and so it wasn’t as simple as walking down the street and grabbing a plate of rice and beans; if you aren’t on campus you’d be walking miles to find food. Fortunately, there is great public transportation in this area and that took care of that. There was definitely some culture shock moving here, not only from the culture of southern USA, but also from people studying here from all over the world. I tended to cling to people from other Caribbean countries just because their culture is close to what we have in Belize, but I’ve made friends from Japan, India, Rwanda, Nigeria and people from the US, Arkansas in particular.
Being here in the US has made me become a global citizen and I am more open to other people’s culture and have a better understanding of why people do the things they do.
5. What are the challenges you face as a student at the university? Opportunities?
The main challenge I faced as a student at this university was trying to make myself standout to a professor. I recall back home in my Modern Physics class, there were only 10 of us and so it was easy to go see the teacher to get help on an assignment or guidance with lab. Here however, I felt like just another student to these professors, especially in the first and second year where the class enrollment was over 200 people. I got past this challenge by making it a point to see the professors during office hours whenever I could and to attend recitation sessions with the teaching assistant. I quickly learned that despite the frightening number of students in the class, the professors genuinely care about their students who seek out their help and try to help in any way possible.
There are a lot of resources such as office hours, tutoring and paper reviews that I encourage other students to exploit if studying in the US as it can really help to make the challenges that come up seem insignificant.
6. Why is your major important to Belize’s National Development?
Mechanical engineering is a diverse major and so I believe it has a lot to offer in terms of the development of Belize. Firstly, and possibly most importantly is sustainable energy production. Mechanical engineers are the ones who will be at the forefront of the design and implementation of sustainable energy systems. I believe that if we as a small nation can successfully find innovative ways of making use of efficient and renewable energy, this will send a strong message to the international community to do the same. A large part of mechanical engineering also involves optimization of systems and I believe these principles could be translated to the optimization of our industries so that we can increase production and quality for both internal use and exportation.
7. What are three things you learnt as an International Student? What can our country expect from Mishek Musa in the next five years?
As an international student,
a.) I have definitely learned to appreciate the things we have back home in Belize as simple as they may be. When studying abroad you get homesick a lot and its important to have small things that remind you of home whether it is a flag hung up in your apartment, a small bottle of Marie Sharp’s pepper or a picture of your favorite place from back home.
b.) I’ve also learnt that its important to reach out to other international students to get a feel for their experiences too. These people, regardless of where they are from or what they are studying, are going through the same struggle of being many miles away from home and its good to have someone to talk to about it and make connections.
c.) I touched on this in a previous question, but I feel the biggest take away I’ve received as an international student is that you learn to appreciate another person’s culture and become a more open and understanding individual. Being a global citizen allows you to effectively work with others in order to make our communities equal, fair and sustainable.
To be honest, I am probably still going to be in school in the next 5 years, hopefully finishing up my PhD. After I graduate, I plan to work in the US in research and development to gain experience that I can someday bring back to Belize to make an impactful difference to our developing nation.
Additionally, I have plans to come back periodically to work on developing spaces that allow individuals, particularly youth, to have some outlet for creativity. Science and technology are going to be the future of Belize and it starts with being creative and solving simple problems that can then be extrapolated to larger issues facing the nation.
8. In one of my recent articles, I stated: ‘It is important to realize that majority of Belize’s younger populations continue to be very mediocre as it relates to becoming holistically educated and cultured, personally and professionally.’ What’s your perspective on this?
I don’t believe it’s the younger population’s fault that they aren’t becoming holistically developed, it’s the environment they are in that promotes this.
Very little resources are put into the development of our youth and they are single handedly the most valuable human resource Belize has to offer. Without the proper tools and facilities to promote holistic development, young people will never be able to exploit their full potential. The issues are rooted fundamentally in our poor education system and lack of access to proper sports, art and science facilities.
I think students can be motivated to learn and develop but it starts with teaching them about who they are, historically and culturally, giving them the ability to explore what they like whether it be playing a sport or an instrument, and by giving them the ability to be creative and make. The potential for this is there in Belize, but the government in particular needs to be better at allocating resources for the development of our youth and creating that environment necessary to develop holistically.
The business community should also be held responsible with providing more opportunities for students to partake in internships. I was fortunate to gain some experience working over the summer at an engineering firm in Belize and this settled in my mind that I wanted to become a mechanical engineer. The youth are a reflection of what previous generations leave behind and that is exactly where the mediocrity stems from.
9. What is your personal definition of intelligence and discipline? What is your perspective on discrimination (Across the board)?
I believe intelligence and discipline are closely related to each other. There are individuals who are naturally intelligent and don’t need to do a lot to excel in what they do. However, if one has the discipline to sit down and put in work, with time and dedication they will also be able to accomplish just as much as someone who can do it with little effort.
To me, discipline may be more important than intelligence. With discipline you can achieve anything, and you become a better individual as a result of it. You understand what it is to struggle and work hard for the things you want in life.
Discrimination, in whatever shape or form it may manifest itself in, should not be tolerated at any level. Discrimination is rooted in ignorance and lack of compassion for our neighbor. We all have the right to be treated equally and fairly in whatever situation we’re in. Discriminatory traditions and ideologies still exist in many countries and institutions despite how much effort is put into creating an equal environment for all. I believe it will be a long and slow process before we live in a completely open and inclusive society but with the recent movements against the flawed institution we can someday get there.
10. What three words do you have to say to young Belizeans?
You got this.
Sometimes you just have to know what you want and believe in yourself and let me be the one to remind you that you can do it, whatever it may be.
