Image Courtesy of Alicia Maxwell
By: Alicia Maxwell, Contributing Writer
Michael rows a boat at Double H Ranch camp
Okikiola Michael wasn’t always sure of his future in computer science. Growing up in Nigeria, he would always play with video game animations on his uncle’s computer.
“Power in Nigeria had an off/on switch, so when the power was off I would sit around the computer figuring out the best ways to type different words on the keyboard,” Michael said.
He was creating his own language from the time he was a kid. He felt connected, or in other words, at home, with computers.
“I was very interested in how they functioned,and my interest became more intricate as I grew up,” Michael said.
It wasn’t until high school when he learned how to code using Python. His hobby turned into a passion.
“Considering most of the world right now is digitalized, anything you could do in real life you can basically do online,” Michael said. “It feels like a second medium or dimension. Just as much as you can talk in person, you can talk online. Computers are everywhere, and we all use them.”
To Michael, this makes computer science a valuable field. Being able to find a passion and be involved with how computers work makes him feel like he is contributing to something that’s essential to society.
Aside from paving his way into the science field, Michael has worked as a residential assistant at Bonaventure for three years. He has also taken part in Bonaventure’s Black Student Union and Chattertons Club, a poetry club, since entering college.
He has has published poems in three different literary magazines. Michael appreciates the creative parallels between writing and programming he has found through his interests in computer science and poetry.
During summer 2022, Michael worked for a Double H Ranch camp for children with disabilities.
“Some of the kids there spend their entire year in the hospital,” Michael said. “The camp is the only thing they look forward to because it gives them one chance to leave those bedroom walls.”
Apart from serving as a counselor, he was assigned to help develop an app.
“It’s really like building a skeleton of something and using your knowledge of wherever you’re working,” Michael said. “Given that some of the kids have disabilities where they don’t have full range of motion, you don’t want [the text] to be too far apart, too bright or the screen to be too busy. You have to consider all of this stuff with each screen and button.”
Currently, Michael is taking up an internship with Intandem Solutions, a company that assists in creating services for people with disabilities. He will be interning as an information technologist (or IT) to which he said he can’t wait to get started.
“I would like my career to shine in the work I do, making something come out of nothing,” Michael said.
Although he can’t quite see his future, he knows where his interest lies: programming and creating.
“I’m not a fan of corporate business and suits and ties,” Michael said.
Instead, he wishes to work in a hands-on and creative environment. Computer science is not just a major or a means of making quick cash. It is his life’s goal to create a service that has meaning for the users.
“Where the people you’re making products or services for are the people you are in contact with; there’s no distance in how that works,” Michael said. “You don’t feel like an incognito to them. I like that setting, and long term I hope that’s where my work has been.”
