Daood Shah, Student-Based Enterprise Participant

The Blessing of a Broken Finger

An avid baseball player, Daood Shah was more than a little disappointed when he broke his finger during the spring of his senior year at Chicago Math and Science Academy. It was an unlucky, abrupt ending to what was a promising baseball season. It was also an important beginning.

Looking for something to do after school, Daood joined a few friends in checking out Lumity. As Daood said, “I immediately fell in love with STEM and the idea of going into business.”

Fast forward a few years, Daood is now graduating from the University of Illinois-Chicago with a degree in Computer Engineering. 

“If it weren’t for Lumity, I would not have had the guidance to realize what I really wanted to do. I learned so much that led me to pursue computer science,” explains Daood. “Lumity taught me how to create a website and code in HTML and CSS languages, which gave me the foundation to learn other computer languages. It’s really the reason why I became interested in computer engineering.” 

“But it’s also more than that,” Daood continues. “Lumity taught me all those things that are necessary for business. How to build business and project plans, how to talk to customers. I learned how to be a professional—how to facilitate meetings, communicate through emails, set up contracts, do presentations. Lumity was there for me as a role model.”

And, now, Daood is an invaluable role model for our current students! As he finishes his degree and looks for a computer engineering position this summer, Daood is also working as a pharmacy technician and volunteering with our teens as a Lumity Network member.  Daood notes, “I’ve learned a lot working with Lumity teens.  There are so many high school seniors who don’t know what to do after they graduate and don’t know that there are so many possibilities in STEM. I’m really trying to help them the way Lumity helped me.”

Join Daood in supporting the next-gen of STEM: Become a Lumity Network Member.