Classroom to the Boardroom: Della Anjeh (Pomona College)

Della Anjeh is entering her junior year at Pomona College where she majors in computer science. She is a member of our BDPA St. Louis chapter and participated in 2011 and 2012 on the chapter's High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team. She earned a Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship when her HSCC team took home the silver medal in 2012. Later she earned a Monsanto Scholarship ... also administered by the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation. Part of her application included an essay entitled, 'Communication, Knowledge and Innovation: Outcomes of Technological Advancement in Agriculture'.

Della currently is the webmaster for New Ideas Education, a start-up that allows Chinese students to improve English by video chatting with college students. Della also runs the College Lowdown, a podcast that gives advice on what it’s like to navigate and study at an elite college for low-income and first generation students. Della plans to work in the tech world and isn’t quite sure which area she wishes to pursue, but figures it will be in either data structures or design.

We asked Della to share thoughts about her BDPA experience:

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Della Anjeh

"Ever since I received the email in ninth grade that an after school computer teaching club called BDPA would meet on Wednesdays, I never knew that it would lead to me becoming a second place national champion at the 2012 BDPA conference, that I would become the lead webmaster for a start-up, or that I would major in computer science at one of the best schools in the country. It’s just one of those things that turned out to be bigger than I ever anticipated.

I remember being at the conference in Chicago during the oral question part of the competition. For fun, our team learned from a YouTube video to count in binary with our fingers, so for every binary question our team or the other teams received, we would quietly count with our fingers together. Needless to say, we were always correct. I also remember the courses in robotics we took that taught me a lot about an aspect of computer science that at that point I hadn’t had to opportunity to explore. And of course, I’ll never forget when we were called out as the second place team in the competition that year. It was amazing especially since I was going off to college in a few weeks making 2012 my last year to be eligible to compete in the HSCC championship. All the hard work I put in since 9th grade and up to my senior year of high school truly paid off.

I can’t ever forget what BDPA has done for me, and I continue to reap the benefits of the program now as I’m starting my 3rd year of college, and my first semester as a declared computer science major. I have no idea what my future will be like, but I know that BDPA will continue to stay in my mind as one of the places I felt that I could let my talent shine."

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BDPA created the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship program to propel students in our community from the classroom to the boardroom. We want our children to have their best chance to 'win the future' by getting grounded in science, technology, education and mathematics. Della is showing us that we're on the right track. We need your help to keep it going! Would you please consider making a secure online donation to support BDPA programs, scholarships and services?