Article by Vrydon Paul Photos by Prashul Shrestha
Prashul Shrestha graduated from the College of Science and Engineering at St. Cloud State University in May 2021. He currently works at Medtronic in Virginia, having left Minnesota because of the weather. As an international student at St. Cloud State University, Shrestha’s life is filled with perseverance and dedication.
Having to leave his home of Nepal to come to the United States of America was something Shrestha was hesitant to do, but with few jobs and school opportunities in his home country, the options seemed slim for what Shrestha could do after high school. That was when his dad suggested looking around at schools to study abroad.
“I was planning to do my bachelor’s in India, but things got turned around, and then I ended up applying to the States and got accepted into a school. I was like Cool. Something that I never expected, I was like, whoa, that’s cool. I will give it a try,” said Shrestha.
Shrestha departed his home country and sought higher education in a new place. He was determined as an international student to get ahead of everyone else in his studies because of the perceptions of foreign students when applying for jobs.
“I was really, really determined to find an internship because when I came here for the first time, my cousin said the best way to find a job as an international student was an internship because as an international, you’re trying to prove you’re worth the job,” said Shrestha
Shrestha chose to major in computer science, but he originally wanted to work in the business side of computers, as his father is a businessman in Nepal.
After Shrestha’s failure to get an internship after his first semester, he to decide the best way to get an internship was to improve his resume, so he joined the St. Cloud State University Computer Science Club.
Shrestha (Front row Left) and the Computer Science Club.
Shrestha got the chance to tutor other students early into his time at St. Cloud State University,
“I used to go to him to ask questions, with Dr. Sarnath, and when the opportunity came up he asked me if I wanted to tutor students from the class below me.”
Luck came for Shrestha after multiple career fairs, and networking with the same person, and finally, he was offered an internship at GEOCOMM.
Shrestha (first on the right) during his first internship for GEOCOMM in 2019.
After his first internship, Shrestha wanted to improve his resume even more, so he joined hackathons, which he credits with helping him stand out among other applicants.
“[Hackathons] helped me show that I’m determined to learn and then be able to be willing to put effort into what I’m doing right now, like I’m studying right now, so I think it sets apart your resume from the rest of the resumes,” said Shrestha.
During his first hackathon, Shrestha and his team created a social app that would match users with similar interests and hobbies. They called it “Neighborhood.”
Shrestha remembers the grind of a hackathon in Iowa, where he and his team were up all day working on projects and sleeping on the floor of the space for two days straight.
Shrestha (2nd from the right) and others hosts a Q&A for the St. Cloud State University College of Science and Engineering.
Shrestha would later become the president of the computer science club, which he credits to a turning point in the organization because that’s when he suggested St. Cloud State University host a hackathon on campus.
“St. Cloud State University had never hosted a hackathon before. It had participated with other universities, but I wanted to organize one on the campus, like for the students,” said Shrestha.
Shrestha and his team worked hard on getting the details and specifications of the hackathon ready at St. Cloud State University, but then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and they had to move it online.
“Yeah, we did it online. It was complicated because the sponsors and all,” said Shrestha.
Ever since then, St. Cloud State University has hosted a yearly hackathon, now called Huskies Hack, with students even being able to earn money.
After graduation, Shrestha was applying for jobs and remembers applying to internships for his current employer, Medtronic.
“Yeah, I applied for a Metronic internship a couple of times in college, but they turned me down each time.”
After graduating from St. Cloud State University, a representative from Medtronic reached out to Shrestha and offered to interview him for some open positions. Shrestha said that there were a couple of rounds of interviews, and his current employer was impressed with his work, and he got the job.
Shrestha now helps create a system at Medtronic that funnels medical device complaints so they are sent to the right department or even to the Food and Drug Administration.
Shrestha’s advice to students looking to succeed in their life after college is to get involved no matter what your major is.
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