From the president
Carlos Arevalo, a first-generation college student at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (OSUIT), is an active leader who is committed to bringing attention to social isolation in the IT field. Throughout his college career, he has taken initiative to ensure the socializing of his peers. In doing this, Carlos has restarted a student club that was shut down during the pandemic which is now popularly known as Information Technology Students of America(ITSA). He has used this student club to create, host, and promote events all over the campus. These events include: mock interviews, guest speakers, and field trips. During his high school career, Carlos was known for going above and beyond with helping both students and teachers on their day-to-day technological problems. He was also chosen to be a representative of the Hispanic community within a diversity and inclusion committee. There, he worked on improving the encompassment of multiple races, cultures, and genders in his community. Carlos is sure to continue finding ways to help and be socially engaged with his community. As an advocate of other people, Carlos strives to help people get involved and is confident he can continue to break people out of their shell.
Personal Statement
Throughout my entire life, I have always taken the opportunity to step up and get involved in being a leader in my community. I am working toward my bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and with this, I’ve highlighted a major issue and I’m working on solutions. There’s an oversimplified image that some people in IT have less social skills than other degrees. Being an IT student, I’ve unfortunately found this to be true with my peers and alumni. There are countless IT students who only come out of their rooms for food or class. At first glance, this may not be much of a social issue, but this experience of college can leave a negative impact on students by leaving college without social skills and practicing interaction with others. On campus, I’ve been a lead in restarting up a student club that focuses on IT students and getting them to break the habit of staying locked up in their dorm/home rooms. With this club, I’ve shown commitment to improving the circumstances with those around me and by creating events and inviting everyone to join hoping to leave an impact on my community and bring in IT students.