When Shageldi Ovezov first attended EducationUSA events in Turkmenistan, he was very excited to learn about tuition-free colleges in the U.S. Shageldi is now a rising junior at Berea College, where he secured a full scholarship for 4 years of studies towards a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics.
“Initially, it was very hard for me to navigate through the myriad of scholarship opportunities in the U.S., and I didn’t know how to choose the best-fit college. By attending the EducationUSA center in Turkmenistan, I received valuable information on how to reflect on myself better, identify and choose what’s best for me, and be a successful college applicant, which ultimately, saved a great amount of time and finances.

Shageldi has been an active student at Berea College, having started a Developer Student Clubs chapter on campus. Developer Student Clubs is a program run by Google Developers to empower university students to build technical solutions for the local problems. He is now interning at Major League Hacking, being selected as one of 150 participants out of 20,000 applicants. As an intern, Shageldi contributes to over 6 open-source software projects, which is an impactful work where more than 800,000 projects depend on the software that he contributes to.
He states: “At this point, I would like to acknowledge #EducationUSA. I was part of Turkmenabat Undergraduate Cohort Advising (UCA), a 10-month intensive college preparation program that was like no other in guiding me to get ready to study in the United States. Due to the program, I was eligible for an Opportunity Grant that covered my travel expenses all the way to Berea. I’m very grateful for the program for investing in my education”.

Instagram account of Shageldi: @shageldi_ovezov