Shane Tambanivoul, Sophomore
Shane Tambanivoul, a 22-year-old, is currently a sophomore studying IT, Information Technology Database in Security. Tambanivoul was born on a small island, Mauritius, in East Africa, with about 1.2 million people. He graduated high school at the age of 15. He decided to come to Utah after an invitation from his cousin to study in the ESL program, English as a Second Language, at BYU, to learn the language. After finishing his program he went on a service mission in Maine for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and decided he wanted to come back to Utah for college.
Tambanivoul was born and raised by a single mother alongside his three brothers. Their mom passed away last year, and everything he does is for his family. He loves his family and has been doing everything in his power to give them a better life, and better opportunities. Born and raised in Mauritius, he came with the intention of learning English, but found a whole other life here, and found a brilliant future ahead of him with his future wife, and endless opportunities for a better life.
“I’m doing everything for my family so that they can have a better life,”
Tambanivoul saw that coming to the US would give him many opportunities he would not have had in his home country, Mauritius. And that motivated him to come back to Utah for college.
“They don’t pay you enough there. You work more but don’t make enough money. A lot of students drop out of school at an early age because they can’t really afford college.”
Tambanivoul came to UVU with the intentions of becoming a cybersecurity expert, drawn to UVU because of its highly-esteemed two-year cybersecurity program. At first, he was studying computer science but recently switched to IT feeling it would be the best path to accomplish his goal, and better himself in the field of his choice.
As an international student, Tambanivoul is not allowed to work outside of campus, and august could not come any early for him, who will be getting married to his lovely fiancé. As of next year he aims to start working toward bettering his skills and work within his major,
“[I want to]… develop all my skills in the IT field (…) because I know being a cyber security is a hard job, but I want to be an expert at it, and teach people what to do so they can be safe.”
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