By Kate Wallace
When Richard came to the US, his primary goal was to attend college, and it was important to him that it was related to his job that he had in Cameroon – water treatment.
Cameroon is one of several African nations that doesn’t have a sustainable continuous water supply, which means that many people use potentially contaminated sources for their water needs. There are several programs working to help solve this problem, and Richard is ready to lend his expertise.
He first moved to Minneapolis, and it was difficult to find someone to guide him in choosing a college. He checked online and found that SCTCC is one of only two colleges in the state to have a water treatment-related program. He applied and was accepted to the program.
“This program is not a simple program. This program can save lives; it’s correlated to the health of the people. When you turn on the tap and have clean water in your kitchen sink, that’s us. In the WETT program, not only do you learn how to filter the water, but we learn how to treat wastewater,” he said regarding the WETT program. “In Africa, the issue of clean water is a big, big problem. And the skills I’ve been learning here – if I go back, I can bring my own contribution to this problem in my country and other countries.”
For now, Richard has completed the WETT program and is just finishing up a few classes. In December 2020, he’ll have graduated from SCTCC and will be ready to apply classroom learning to the field. Before heading back home to Cameroon, he wants to get a few years’ experience and then bring what he’s learned to help the clean up the water problems in Africa.
It’s been a good experience for him at SCTCC. The staff and instructors are helpful and make sure he knows that he can ask for help. He’s had meetings with President Annesa Cheek on a couple occasions. And he’s received a scholarship to help him pay for college expenses.
“I don’t know how I would have managed the academic year if I hadn’t had the scholarships. The WETT program requires a lot of materials, and the help I got from the scholarships helped me alleviate that cost. I’m so grateful for that.”
