Diana
Chiyangwa ’08
Home country: Zimbabwe
Major: engineering (minor: economics)
 After graduating from Smith,
I began graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, pursuing a M.S in Technology and Policy. I am
currently working on energy policy with a main focus on electricity
and climate change. After earning my M.S., I am planning
to work with an international agency developing strategies
to reduce climate change impact in Africa, where I believe
the effects of climate change are mostly concentrated.
As
a poor international student from Zimbabwe, the Coulter Scholarship
enabled me to concentrate less on finances and more on academics.
It was such an honor being awarded this scholarship and all
the assistance that came with it made me enjoy my Smith experience
so much more. I was able to go home more easily with the
travel money, and I always had all the books that I needed
with the book stipend. It was a blessing for which I am eternally
grateful.
I have always been a young woman
who works for what she wants to achieve. Smith built on this
and made me realize that I will achieve anything I work for.
Smith made me more strong-willed and more passionate about
what I believe in. When you come to Smith, you definitely
leave feeling more empowered than you could have ever imagined.
If you want to be a leader, then Smith is the best place
to be!
There are many gifts in life,
but very few have an impact as great as that of education.
The Coulter Scholarship not only impacted my life, but also
my family’s, my small society
and there is only more to come. Scholarships given to students
from developing countries touch more lives than one could
imagine. My scholarship was no doubt life changing, and I
am sure there are plenty more lives to be changed!
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