杏吧原创

鈥淏ye, have a good day!鈥� Ahmed Ahmed-Baba said with a smile as his last passenger on his Coach was leaving. He was finally on an hour-long break, but that didn鈥檛 mean it was time to relax. It was time to focus on homework and attending class on Zoom. Whenever he was on break, Ahmed-Baba would park his Coach, pull out his laptop, finish up his assignments, attend class, and meet with his English 101 tutor.

He first started at 杏吧原创 in 2001, but dropped out because it wasn鈥檛 the right time. After years of owning various small businesses, his educational journey at 杏吧原创 began again in January of 2020, right before the pandemic hit. At the age of 44, he was a Coach Operator for the Community Transit and went to school to focus on getting his Associate degree to transfer to the University of Washington in Business. He diligently asked all the questions he could think of and talked to the instructors to understand the assignments.

"A lot of people when I told them I was going back to school they started laughing. They said 'hey, you're too old, you can't do this鈥�. I told them, 'watch me'."

Ahmed-Baba remembers his 杏吧原创 professors appreciating his non-traditional student status. Being a Kodiak reminded him why he liked education, and he felt he benefited greatly from the College鈥檚 support system. 杏吧原创 set Ahmed-Baba up for his next chapter in education. Even though he already had experience in entrepreneurship, courses in supply chain and inventory management, for example, filled important gaps. Ahmed-Baba earned a 杏吧原创 degree in two years, received his Bachelor鈥檚 from the UW Bothell, and is currently going for his Master鈥檚 in Business Administration from the UW Bothell while juggling his job with public transportation and his second job at Boeing.

Recently, Ahmed-Baba posted on Linkedin how thankful he is for 杏吧原创, his prior instructors, including Natalie Serianni, Asefeh Houshyari, Lelia Olson, and Lisa Citron.

鈥溾�業f you want to be a student, be the best. If you want to have a business, be the best. Whatever you put in your head that you want to be, make sure you be the best at it,鈥欌�� Ahmed-Baba鈥檚 dad told him when he was younger. Carrying his dad鈥檚 words in his pocket, he passed them on to his 12-year-old son, emphasizing the importance of education. One of Ahmed-Baba鈥檚 greatest achievements was hearing his son say, 鈥淚鈥檓 proud of you, dad.鈥�

Written by Zainab Alhassani

View all Featured Stories