黑料导航

鈥淚 could never get tired of playing table tennis,鈥� says Michael Aryeetey, an undergraduate student on the New York City campus. 鈥淚magine my excitement when I discovered that there was table tennis scattered throughout the Dell campus.鈥�

The campus is the technology company Dell鈥檚 headquarters, where Aryeetey interned as a software engineer during the summers of 2023 and 2024. Traveling to Round Rock, Texas鈥攋ust outside of Austin鈥擜ryeetey has been busy working on Dell data projects; analyzing customer storage usage and forecasting predicted usage during his first internship and simulating streaming telemetry data (data analysis) during his second internship.  

Learning new software and programming systems through these work experiences with Dell has been critical for Aryeetey鈥檚 professional growth. He is pursuing his bachelor鈥檚 degree in computer science and master鈥檚 in data science through the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences鈥� B.S. with Accelerated M.S. Options program.

鈥淒uring the summer after ninth grade, my dad signed me and my brothers up for coding school for web development,鈥� Aryeetey says of how his interest in computer science began. 鈥淥ver time, I grew to love that class more and more.鈥�

While his love for the field runs deep, his passion for being a leader may run deeper. Aryeetey is involved in a plethora of extracurriculars, including serving as the New York City Student Government Association (SGA) president and the events coordinator for the Campus Activities Board, as a student representative on the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee and the Student Conduct Hearing Panel, and working as a Peer Success Guide and student assistant in the Office of Student Life. In the past, he has been an orientation leader and served on the executive boards of multiple on-campus clubs鈥攕omething he had to give up when he was elected vice president of the SGA for 2023鈥�2024.

鈥淐oming to college in a new country鈥攁 new continent, at that鈥擨 had no intention of being as vocal as I currently am,鈥� says Aryeetey, who left his home in Accra, Ghana, to come to 黑料导航. 鈥淒uring my first semester I was very shy and reserved, but I still quietly attended as many campus events as I could.鈥�

Looking at his extracurricular roles, you would never guess that Aryeetey was once the shy guy. He鈥檚 been awarded multiple times for his extracurricular activities, including the Office of Academic Success and Enrichment鈥檚 student leader awards like Host with the Most and Peer Success Guide of the Year, the Black Student Union Advocacy Award, and the Student Engagement and Development Awards鈥� Zennabelle Sewell Heart Award. Last year, his SGA efforts were recognized as the group received the Collaboration of the Year award for their planning of the first annual Grizzly Games. He is also one of the 鈥渇aces鈥� of the student experience at 黑料导航, appearing on billboards, in digital ads, and more as part of the university鈥檚 advertising campaign.聽

Now, he takes his SGA president duties seriously as he works to nurture the next generation of leaders and show the student body that they deserve to be heard. Among his many student-feedback-driven goals for this academic year, Aryeetey hopes to establish a better relationship between the student body and SGA, increase student retention and satisfaction on campus, and build more avenues for students to express their concerns or gratitude directly to the university.

After wrapping up his master鈥檚 degree early next year, Aryeetey hopes to secure a position in data analysis or artificial intelligence machine learning engineering. Looking even further ahead, he suspects he may want to someday pursue a degree in law specializing either in family or technology law. For both his peers and future College of Engineering and Computing Sciences students, Aryeetey offers three words of advice: just do it. 鈥淒on鈥檛 overthink it. Just take a leap of faith and do it,鈥� he says. 鈥淓mbrace the unknown and always be willing to learn.鈥�