SOULEYMANE TRAORE Ivory Coast Graduate Oregon Institute of Technology Currently working as an accountant in San Francisco
As a young boy in Africa I had many dreams…
I arrived in the United States in 2000 with just the clothes on my back. My suitcase was stolen from me before I even left home. When I first landed on American soil I felt many emotions. I was scared, I was nervous but most importantly I was blessed and so very lucky.
My life has not been easy. My father passed away when I was 15. When I was 17 I came to the United States and three months after my arrival my 7 year old brother was shot and almost killed during my country’s civil war. My senior year in high school one of my sisters tragically passed away while giving birth to my neice while two years later another sister and my aunt were killed in an automobile accident. It would have been easy for me to give up, but I was in the United States and there was nothing that was going to stop me from having my dreams come true.
I received a basketball scholarship to the Oregon Institute of Technology. Although blessed with height, I knew my dreams of playing in the NBA where far reaching. I knew that my education was the key to my future. I received my degree in Accounting and have accepted a job at an Accounting Firm in San Francisco where I begin work in the Fall.
