Imashi shines in Montana

Tuesday, 31 December 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Imashi Fernando - a brilliant academic from British School Colombo (www.britishschool.lk) - sought the guidance of Scholarships for USA Ltd. (www.scholarshipsforusa.com) to enter a US university with a good scholarship to major in nutrition/dietetics. Among many choices offered by SUSA in a record time Imashi selected Montana State University (www.msu.edu) due to its quality of education, affordability, generous scholarship, advanced standing for A/L credits, availability of part-time work and paid internships. Committed since 2001 to introduce most affordable US schools to Lankan students so that an increasing numbers would become global professionals SUSA is delighted to share good news from MSU. Freshman student, Imashi Shehara Fernando, entered Montana State University, MSU in August 2013 in Bozeman, Montana. She arrived in the US with a goal to take full advantage of the opportunities that MSU and her new community has to offer. She discovered MSU through the guidance of Scholarships for USA, an education consulting agency in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Montana was not a state in the US that Imashi was familiar with, but she now feels the University is a good fit for her academic studies in nutrition and economics and great place to experience the American culture. The Office of International Programs recently enjoyed a dance performance by Imashi and her fellow Lankan friend, at the annual India Night, sponsored by the Indian Student Association. She was happy to participate in this annual event and looks forward to dancing in the upcoming International Food Bazaar in February. In the two short months of attending MSU, she not only prioritize her time to share her culture, but she joined the Dietitian Club on campus. The club recently participated in ‘Food Day’, where MSU organisations educated fellow students and community members about global food sustainability, food costs and food waste issues.

She also recently toured the lab of MSU researcher and professor, Mary Miles, PhD who currently researches ways to lower the disease risks of major illnesses like cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes and cancer. She is excited about the opportunity to volunteer in the lab that affects people worldwide. All this extracurricular activity will lead her to her ultimate career goal of working for the UN or the World Food Bank. Imashi has also found a MSU Health Service office ‘The Voice Centre’, an MSU peer based service to address issues of sexual violence. She is currently the only international student in the office to complete the intensive 32-hour training to become an advocate for fellow students in sexual and domestic violence situations. Imashi feels “this has been an invaluable training program and I am so happy to be a part of it”. She even finds time for her honours program classes at MSU. Her favourite class is Text and Critics, a required freshman class of 15 students where classmates share views on books and current issues. She enjoys hearing US student perspectives about life topics and brings her views in the conversation. In her free time, she attends MSU football games and takes advantage of zumba and yoga classes at the MSU gym with her new friends. She enjoys dorm life and is looking forward to her travels during the winter holiday in Seattle, WA or Vancouver, BC.