Joshua Silas Uses his Monsanto Scholarship at Tuskegee University

Joshua Silas * Tuskegee University

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is proud to announce that Monsanto awarded a $2,500 college scholarship to four (4) students. One of those students is Joshua Silas of Tuskegee University.

We asked Joshua Silas to share his thoughts on BDPA.

"I participated in STEM summer programs at Tougaloo College and Lawson State Community College. Also, I attended a Summer Finance program at The University of Alabama-Birmingham. I have a passion for mathematics and sciences, especially physics. I am an analytical and critical thinker, who possesses strong leadership abilities. In addition to these qualities and skills, I am motivated and hard working. These attributes have aided me in accumulating a long list of academic honors and achievements.

I have demonstrated excellent leadership skills and is an active participant in academics, curricular activities, and the community. My curricular activities involved track, choir, scholar’s bowl and math team. I participated in service projects held by Habitat for Humanity, which is a charity that provides refurbished homes to those who cannot afford them.  The Relay for Life is a foundation that helps raise monies for cancer research and treatment in order to defeat the disease. I provided musical services for the foundation fundraiser held at Chelsea High School. The Village Creek Society is geared toward improving the environment within the 44 miles of its creek location that benefits residence, businesses, schools, and churches in its watershed.  The Fellowship House is a facility in Birmingham, AL that rehabilitates substance abusers.  In addition, I assisted fellow classmates with projects, homework assignments, and tutored students in math and science, upon request. This experience has given me the opportunity to learn from others, give back, and assists with important causes.

I desire to study electrical engineering. I first became interested in engineering when I visited E-day at Auburn University. I toured the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and saw the robots that were created and programmed by students. In that moment, I decided I wanted to study, research and potentially design robots. In addition, I have a very keen interest in developing video game consoles. Both of my interests incorporate physics and mathematics. I selected this major because I believe it will provide me the overall knowledge to assist me in pursuing my interests.

After high school graduation, I entered the FASTREC program at Tuskegee University. FASTREC is a pre-college summer session held for eight weeks that strengthened my knowledge and study skills in math and engineering.

I plan to pursue a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and minor in computer science at Tuskegee University. The Engineering program will offer a vast amount of valuable information that will provide me an educational experience that will enhance my career opportunities. As I continue my undergraduate studies, I will participate in internships or co-op opportunities to apply my learned skills. Thus, providing me a competitive advantage in the job market. Upon completion of undergraduate, I will pursue a master's degree and doctorate in Engineering, while maintaining a job at a consumer electronics company that will provide me experience in robotics and hardware. With enhanced knowledge and skills, I plan to pursue a lucrative career that will allow me to innovate and experiment with new ideas in the electrical engineering field."

Joshua enjoyed the BDPA Mobile Application Showcase. The Showcase was a nationwide competition that displayed applications created by students on their mobile devices. He hopes to participate in this Showcase in coming years.

BDPA is blessed to have such a young and talented student a winner of the Monsanto Scholarship. We look forward to supporting Joshua's career as he seeks to advance in the technology industry!