MICHEAL MEKONNEN

ALUMNI

I heard about GapBuster in my  sophomore year in high school. I believe I learned about it from one of my teachers, specifically in the context of ACT-SO. When I heard about ACT-SO, I was immediately excited to participate in it. In my junior year, I participated in the Mathematics competition, and in my senior year I participated in Computer Science, in which I was very happy to win the National Gold Medal. I was with GapBuster for 2 years, my junior and senior years in high school. Participating and eventually winning a Gold Medal in ACT-SO with the help of GapBuster was immensely impactful for me.

This was a huge opportunity for me to showcase my interest and passion in computer science and mathematics on a national stage. Succeeding at this competition was an instrumental part of my college application process, and this was enabled by GapBuster and Dr. Butler’s encouragement!

I went to MIT and graduated with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics. GapBuster was impactful in the path I’ve taken in that, firstly, it introduced me and helped me to win ACT-SO, which made my resume stronger. Secondly, and more importantly, ACT-SO allowed me to exercise my passions at an early stage, before even reaching college, so I became better aware of what I wanted to study in college. I am currently a Software Engineer at Google.

I, unfortunately, live in New York at the moment, so I am a little bit removed from the GapBuster office. In the coming years, I would like to be able to serve as a mentor to new participants of ACT-SO and help them as much as I can. Further down the road, assuming the conditions allow it, I would like to make monetary contributions to GapBuster as well.