Wednesday, April 13, 2016 // The Statement
10B
R
ackham student Rama Mwenesi means a lot of
different things to the people who know him.
Within the University of Michigan community. To
his fellow engineers — and many others, actually — he is
the founder of E-MAGINE, a multidisciplinary student
startup working to bring Internet access to remote areas
in countries like Brazil, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Zambia.
To those others who know him from academia, he is a
determined student, who has already completed an under-
graduate degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering
through the University — accompanied by two minors, no
less, in International Studies in Engineering and Design
Engineering as well as a certificate in Entrepreneurship.
As well, he who will be graduating this spring from an
integrated master’s program at UM combining IOE and
Health Management & Policy.
To his superiors and coworkers within the University’s
health system, he is a health care engineering consultant,
constantly seeking ways to improve patient care and safe-
ty, looking to avoid what he calls “stop-valve solutions”
and instead concentrating efforts on long-term solutions
and policies.
To those he works with through the office of Services
for Students with Disabilities, he is a member of the Stu-
dent Advisory Board, who has helped students all across
campus through the development of outreach and men-
torship programs, making the navigation of tumultuous
waters just a little bit.
To the members of the University’s club boxing team,
he is a trusted coach (and former four-year captain),
confident in his athletes’ abilities and endlessly, tire-
lessly cheering them on when they enter into competition
around the country.
He is all of these things to all of these groups of people,
yet he still says most people don’t know him all that well.
This, he elaborates, is because they don’t know where he’s
come from, what he’s been through and just how difficult
it has been for him to reach a position where he has gar-
nered not one, but two Student of the Year nominations
— the first coming in 2013, when he was still an under-
graduate.
What the majority of these people are unaware of is that
Rama suffered a brain injury due to multiple sports-relat-
ed concussions when he was younger, and his doctors, he
said, were uncertain whether he’d even be around today
to tell his story, let alone to be nearing the completion of a
second degree from an institution of higher learning.
“When I came here to Michigan and I realized I am
quote-unquote 'disadvantaged' compared to the rest of my
peers in certain aspects, neurologically that is … the ques-
tion was: Am I going to give this up or not?” he said. “And
then I reached out to the SSD [Services for Students with
Disabilities] office and they really just transformed my
entire experience here in terms of helping me understand
what it is even that I’m going through.”
“It’s not like a broken arm or a broken leg where you can
clearly see that so-and-so has, maybe, a challenge here or
a problem there,” he continued. “The more neurologically
complex these issues are, the harder it is to even explain
to just any other person out there.”
Before coming to the University, Rama’s family and
friends dissuaded him from doing so, saying they didn’t
think it was worth it, that they thought he “wasn’t neu-
rologically able to make it through.” But Rama was deter-
mined to seek out education in the United States, despite
the fact that he might someday not remember a thing he
learned due to neurodegeneration.
“My whole M.O. from the very beginning was, as cli-
ché as it may sound: impossible is truly nothing,” he said.
“Impossible is nothing, (and) as I look towards graduating
in less than a month, this whole process — even this inter-
view and everything — I am truly grateful for Michigan,
truly grateful for the opportunities it’s awarded me.”
So yes, Rama is many things — an international stu-
dent from Kenya; holder of an undergraduate degree in
Industrial and Operations Engineering; a one-time dou-
ble minor; a former fellow involved with the University’s
hospital system; founder of E-MAGINE, bringing Inter-
net access to remote areas in Africa and South America;
a coach for the club boxing team; the list goes on. But the
one thing he wants you to know is this: he has struggled
along the way, has tried to be the most genuine version of
himself he can be and, above all, he just wants to make a
difference while he still can.
Nearing his second graduation from the University, he
says, “This is something special, and this is something
that I hope others can truly just, like, take a page, see, like,
if this kid can do it, if this kid can do it … ”
And he can’t even finish the thought. He is so humbled,
so grateful, so overwhelmed to be recognized for this
award for a second time, that he cannot find the words
to express what it all means. That’s OK, Rama. We know.
RAMA MWENESI
B Y L O G A N H A N S E N ,
D A I LY S TA F F R E P O R T E R
AMANDA ALLEN / Daily