Jamil Young ; Bachelor student in ICT (1st year)

Introduction
My name is Jamil Young I am from St.Maarten. Many people ask me, why I have chosen Information Technology? That's an easy question for me. I have worked as a Network administrator for sometime right after high school; and I have developed such a burning interest for computers that it was enough for me to decide for a career in IT. I had been researching a place to further my studies during my working years, the Netherlands came out to be my best choice, as my homeland St.Maarten is part of the Netherlands . After deciding on a country, I broke my choices down to Eindhoven as it is known as the technology city of the Netherlands . I had been in contact with the school via email and postal mail over a year period. My first visit last year October 2005 was to see the facilities and ask questions and become acquainted with its settings. After doing my entrance examinations, I was very proud and most of all happy as any student would to be admitted to this university.

The view of the Dutch towards studying is a great one, they will give the chance to any citizen who wishes to study, and this is a powerful opportunity for the youths of today. There are many people throughout the world who are less fortunate in study possibilities. Fontys University turned out to be my final choice, after communicating with the secretarial and directorial departments. I am satisfied with my choice of school.

Progress so far
I have been studying for over five months now and it has been so far a great new experience. Being in a class with students of such different walks of life is also something different for me, and sometimes the language barrier can affect us from sharing our help and views across in the most accurate way. It is also very challenging for me personally, as I've been out of the school routine for some time. Besides the little things that can be adjusted too, I find Fonty's University as a good place to study; the student community is quite small which allows the students to get better attention from both one another and from teachers. Unfortunately I find that as a first year student, the one to one attention from teachers here at school is not available, some more effort should be placed into fresh students at this critical point, but this is just my opinion.

Future Plans
I have also even thought of continuing my masters at the technical university. This would be a good decision but to be honest I can't wait to get back into the working field and start putting what I have learnt into practice. Staying and doing my internship here in the Netherlands would be a great choice, so I can get the opportunity to work in a larger country. Although I have considered returning at my previous workplace, I like the first thought of moving forward to new environments, and meeting different people in this profession.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I can stand firm as a rock, in believing that I have made the right choice in terms of the career path I am taking. It is through the knowledge that I am obtaining from this great university, that is going to see me through achieving my future plans, that is of becoming an all-around computer professional. As a result, I will continue to strive and work hard.
This University like any other institute can only guide and steer its students through and towards their future professions, at the end of the day it is up to us as individual students to have that inner drive to attain this knowledge. My choice of University is as good as my future IT career; I will continue to make the best of it and try to enjoy every moment, for as long as God gives me the strength and health to move on.

The Journey continues……………..