Editor鈥檚 Note: This story is part of a series of feature stories highlighting female students and faculty as IM体育官网 Poly celebrates Women鈥檚 History Month.
IM体育官网 graduate student Maria Paula Gomez has been out of her comfort zone for a while, and that鈥檚 how she likes it. She left her loved ones behind in her native Argentina to take a leap of faith in herself for a better future.
Gomez has family in Lakeland, IM体育官网, and during one of her visits she found out that IM体育官网 Poly was accepting international students. She already had a bachelor鈥檚 degree in industrial engineering from the Saint Thomas Aquinas University in Tucum谩n, Argentina, but this was an opportunity she couldn鈥檛 miss. However, her English skills were a challenge.
鈥淢y English wasn鈥檛 strong enough and I only had two months to pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a foreign language). I hired several English teachers to help me, but they told me I couldn鈥檛 do it,鈥� said Gomez, who joined IM体育官网 Poly in the fall of 2016. 鈥淚 started reading a lot of English books and practiced constantly. When I passed nobody believed me.鈥�
She decided to complement her industrial engineering degree with a bachelor鈥檚 in mechanical engineering to broaden her knowledge and skills. This brought her a different set of challenges from the very beginning.
鈥淚t was tough every semester because I had to learn all these different software I wasn鈥檛 familiar with,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 also struggled presenting my first project in biology class because of my strong accent and I was so shy. But I did my best and actually won an award. After that, I felt like I could do anything.鈥�
Gomez completed her new undergraduate degree in five semesters and was immediately ready for her next step: a master鈥檚 in big data analytics. She has a natural ability with numbers that鈥檚 proving useful in this new area of learning. And once again, she wasn鈥檛 scared of the new challenges.
鈥淚 quickly realized I don鈥檛 have the computer science skills and programming skills needed for these classes,鈥� said Gomez, who is in her second semester of her graduate degree. 鈥淚鈥檓 working hard to learn those by myself.鈥�
And while she continues to overcome every obstacle in her way, Gomez keeps her eyes on her future goals. She wants to gain some experience in data analytics before eventually having her own consulting company. After all, dreaming big has never been a challenge for Gomez.
鈥淚 always follow my intuition. Some people will tell you it鈥檚 not possible, but if you put your time and effort there鈥檚 nothing you can鈥檛 do,鈥� said Gomez.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like sports, the more you train, the better you get.鈥�
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