It can be easy to forget the variety of opportunities available to you as a citizen of the United States. But for recent immigrants like Peter 乌浦, the opportunity to earn a slice of the American Dream acts as a constant motivator.

乌浦, a recent graduate of 拉斯穆森学院’s IT管​​理程序与一生中的许多人相比，五年来已经更接近实现这个梦想。这是他离开家乡尼日利亚拉各斯以来在字面上和形象上走了多远的故事。

重大举措& smooth transition

拉各斯—大西洋上的港口城市—is 约有2100万居民的家，使其成为非洲之一’s largest cities. But despite its size and relative prosperity, 乌浦 and his family moved to the U.S.  在2008年寻求更好的教育和经济机会。

乌浦’在某些方面比您想象的要容易地过渡到在美国居住。尼日利亚，作为前英国殖民地，已在其学校采用英语教学—so unlike many immigrants, 乌浦 was already speaking fluently before making the move. That fluency tends to throw off the people who don’t know him well.

“It’我告诉别人我很有趣’我最近从尼日利亚搬家，因为他们’re so surprised,” 乌浦 says. “They can’相信我英语说得很好。”

乌浦 made the move to 明尼苏达州 to live with his cousins and 后briefly living in Miami. The biggest obstacles for 乌浦’过渡很简单—适应美国和尼日利亚之间的文化差异以及气候的急剧变化。 

“对于那里的很多移民’他们之间的巨大脱节’在[关于美国]的电视上看过的和真实的样子，” 乌浦 says. “It wasn’不过，这确实是艰难的过渡，对我而言，最主要的是适应明尼苏达州的文化和天气。” 

从每天80摄氏度的宜人气候转变为明尼苏达州的极端气候具有挑战性，但与家庭支持有限且英语水平不高的移民所面临的困难相比，它显得苍白无力。毕竟，可以买到保暖的衣服，但是家庭提供的支持是无价的。

Fortunately for 乌浦, the connection with his family in America is alive and well.

尼日利亚的生活为未来的教育奠定了基础

乌浦 has a long standing interest in finding out how things work. As a child he enjoyed taking things apart and putting them together, but 上 e instance in particular sparked 乌浦’对计算机和技术的兴趣。

“I had broken my dad’还是我小时候的电脑‘Oh my god he’他回家时要杀了我’” 乌浦 says.

The ensuing frantic scramble to fix the computer was a success, both long and short term. 乌浦 avoided getting into trouble and simultaneously sparked a curiosity for learning about computer hardware components.

乌浦 continued to feed that interest while in 拉各斯 by attending a technical school that taught some of the basics of computers and information technology. The classes there gave 乌浦 a solid base of competency for when the time came for him to further pursue his education in the U.S.

一家人学习

乌浦 knew he wanted to continue to develop his technological knowledge 后moving to the U.S. so he began to look into schools near his new home. 拉斯穆森学院 caught his interest and less than a year 后arriving in the U.S.  他报名参加了 明尼苏达州布鲁克林公园， 校园。

开办新学校的前景令人望而生畏，但乌浦当时没有’t alone—after  决定上拉斯穆森学院，他鼓励他的两个姐姐也报名参加课程。 乌浦和他的姐妹们可以互相依靠，尽管他们正在研究不同的学科，但他说，作为一个家庭，大家在一起很高兴。 乌浦和他的兄弟姐妹上过大学这一事实不足为奇，因为他的家人强调了成长过程中教育的重要性。

“我父亲总是告诉我，教育是永远不会结束的一件事，” 乌浦 says. “房屋，汽车和其他财物都可以消失，但是教育永远存在。”

乌浦 put a capstone 上 his everlasting education in 2013 when he graduated with a bachelor’IT管​​理学位。

将教育变成成功

乌浦 was set 上 earning an associate degree when he began at 拉斯穆森学院 because the IT management bachelor’尚未提供学位。他在2011年获得的副学士学位足以让他踏入 3M, 上 e of the largest employers in the state. 乌浦 says the experience there was great, if not a little intimidating.

“刚开始我很紧张，因为这是我的第一份入门级工作，” 乌浦 says. “但是我所受的教育使我有信心做得很好。”

Many people would be satisfied with an associate degree, but 乌浦 valued his education enough to return to 拉斯穆森学院 for an additional two years to complete his bachelor’s degree.

现在他’完成后，他担任了以下公司的企业运营分析师的新工作： 首要疗法. The experience he gained at 拉斯穆森学院 and 3M have allowed 乌浦 to hit the ground running.

“当我开始在那里时，我的同事对我很快学会所有东西印象深刻，” 乌浦 says.

乌浦 wants to eventually earn a master’学位，但目前他专注于获得IT认证并继续实现美国梦。

机会’s knocking

Peter 乌浦 traveled halfway around the world for the opportunities that many of us take for granted. If you’re inspired by 乌浦’的故事或只是对信息技术感兴趣，请访问 IT管​​理计划页面 找出等待您的机会。