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| that he received with the assistance of Dr. Haftel. He participated in | a summer program at University of Washington-Seattle through the | Center for Sensory Motor Neuro Engineering. This program was his I first exposure to neuroscience and he has been passionate about it I since then. « Although he desires to work in the neurology field, McReynolds also I. has a passion for working in computer science. He constructed his L own computer during his fall semester of junior year. During his sum- f mer at the Center for Sensory Motor Neuro Engineering, he was ex- | posed to both neuroscience and the hardware of computers, r ‘‘I thought, ‘Well, I could actually build my own computer, and it I seemed to be more of an attainable goal after that summer experi- 1 ence,” McReynolds said. “I used some of my money to do it.” r McReynolds plans to take the computer he constructed with him to I California. He imagines that his interest in computer construction | and software could become a hobby for him in his spare time. 1 “I wouldn’t mind doing [building computers] for people in the fu- f ture,” McReynolds said. "There wasn’t really a market for people building desktops in college - at least not at Morehouse, as far as I could tell. So, me and my other friend - I helped him build his - but no one else really seemed to have desktop computers." \ Devon Smith If f When Devon Smith enrolled at Morehouse, his goal was to perform fj; weN academically and to be involved in as many organizations as k possible. Although he believes he was not the best student in high I school, maintaining academic excellence was of the utmost impor- i tance to him as he began matriculating through the College. | “I was restricted in terms of some of the things I wanted to do, ! whether it be scholarships perspective or a college search perspec- j tive. So, I really wanted to focus on academic excellence when I ! got to Morehouse because I no longer wanted to be put in a bind in any type of way with regards to my GPA or my grades. When I came here, I hit the ground running and I was able to maintain my aca demic excellence throughout my time at the college all because of a personal experience I had in high school and wanting to turn that around forever.” Smith will be the first to admit that during high school he was more I focused on sports, extracurricular activities, and being social. He I says that he did not understand the importance of a GPA until it was I time for him to apply to college and realized that many institutions I that he was looking to apply to do not generally accept students with his academic record. However, while in college, he was able to find balance in both his academics and his social life. Smith, a senior Business Finance major and Spanish minor from Philadelphia, became a Student Ambassador, Presidential Ambas- . sador and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Rho chapter, where he served as chapter president this academic year. He was a member of Student Government Association from freshman to [junior year. Upon graduating in May, Smith will begin working at The Blackstone ' Group, LP in New York City in the private equity department. He also £ plans to enroll in a two-year program. While Smith is pursuing a career path in corporate America, he is passionate about infrastructure development and is invested in de termining methods to improve overall infrastructure in Africa. Long term, he would like to create a company that focuses on infrastruc ture development whether its function is to improve cellular capa bilities or increase roadway accessibility within developing northern Africa. Given his business finance background and travel to several African countries such as Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Togo and Er itrea, he has seen the effects of inefficient infrastructure and would like to impact the lives of north African nations through his profes sional and life experiences. “This is something that I really looked into and explored over the past few years just based on my travel throughout Africa and see ing impoverished nations as a whole,” Smith said. “So, I think that it’s something that I’m really interested in. It’s really cool to me to understand how foreign direct investment really effects developing countries and nations, especially those that are still third world coun tries to this day.”