Nepalese student Satyam Shrivastav is making friends while realizing his dreams at MSU

Growing up in the Biratnagar, Province No.1, Nepal, Satyam Shrivastav was intent on succeeding anywhere. But from a very early age, he had specific academic goals that were far away from his home country.  

“America is considered the most developed country by Nepalese people. When I was a kid, every time I had gone to get blessings from my grandparents, they would bless me to get an American degree,” Satyam said. “I have always wanted to get an American degree since then.”  

When the time came for Shrivastav to decide on where to pursue his college education, his passion and skills for computer science and mathematics led him to travel from the warm flatlands of Nepal’s Terai region to the rolling hills of Appalachia to attend college at Morehead State University.  

Shrivastav is a sophomore majoring in computer and information systems with a focus on network security. His childhood aspirations directed him to MSU and its space science program, but he soon realized he wanted to use his talents to benefit his homeland.  

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be a space engineer, but later I figured out that computer science was perfect for me when I realized that space engineer doesn’t have so much scope and computer science needs a lot of development in Nepal,” he said.  

Since coming to America and spending his freshman year at MSU, Shrivastav was pleased at the kindness of the campus community and the city of Morehead, whether it was seeing cars yield to pedestrians (“Pedestrians have to yield to cars there,” he said.) or random strangers saying “hello.” He has encountered incredibly supportive students at the Baptist Campus Ministry (BCM) that took him to nearby Lockegee Rock to go hiking. He also fondly recalls a friend who let her borrow her car so Shrivastav could take his test to get his driver’s license and was as enthusiastic for his achievement as he was.  

In addition to his American friends, he has also made international connections by joining the International Peer Mentoring Program (IPMP), where he has met other MSU students from China, India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.   

“Honestly, I was really terrible at making friends back in Nepal,” he said. “Now, I have a new friend every couple of days.”  

On the way to earning his degree from MSU, Shrivastav would ideally like to intern for companies like AT&T and Cisco Systems to gain experience he hopes he can take back to Nepal to improve the security of his country’s networks. In the meantime, he is gaining confidence, responsibility and independence along with his education at a place he has already grown to love.  

“Choosing Morehead State University was one of the biggest and best decisions made by me so far,” he said.  

To learn more about the computer science program at MSU, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/study/computerscience, email csis@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2418.   

For more information about admission for international students, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/international.