{"id":317202,"date":"2018-05-08T14:31:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T18:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=317202"},"modified":"2018-05-10T16:28:54","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T20:28:54","slug":"ian-manzi-making-the-most-of-his-serendipitous-moment-317202","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/ian-manzi-making-the-most-of-his-serendipitous-moment-317202\/","title":{"rendered":"From Rwanda to Rochester in one \u2018serendipitous\u2019 moment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Three questions
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Favorite University tradition?<\/strong> \u201cThe Boar\u2019s Head dinner is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Favorite course?<\/strong> Unequal Development and State Policy: Brazil, the US, and Niger, taught by professor Joseph Inikori. I love this course because it exposed me to a cross-section of cultures and the knowledge that what I was learning here could be applied anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

How have you changed since your first year?<\/strong> \u201cI think I\u2019ve learned to make better choices in general and to ask for support and help where I needed it. That was a big thing for me when I first arrived. I\u2019ve learned to enjoy myself in everything that I do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Making their mark: This is one in a series<\/a> of profiles celebrating members of Rochester\u2019s graduating class of 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ian Manzi \u201918 was at his high school in Rwanda five years ago when \u201cserendipity struck\u201d and changed his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cJonathan Burdick [dean of admissions at Rochester] had just left, and I hadn\u2019t had an opportunity to see him,\u201d Manzi recalls. \u201cI walked into the office where he had been and saw a flyer that showed a photo of Rush Rhees Library. It looked so beautiful, a representation of college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manzi was intrigued and decided to apply to the University. \u201cI thought, \u2018Why not? Let\u2019s see how this goes.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n

Manzi will graduate with a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics, and his time at Rochester has gone exceedingly well. He was part of a team with Derrick Murekezi \u201919 that won a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace Grant in 2016 for their work in creating a summer peace camp for young leaders in Rwanda. He coordinated an Amazon.com wish list of 77 books for students in a youth village in his native land. And he has made his mark on the River Campus as a member of the Pan-African Students Association, the University of Rochester Christian Fellowship, and International Student Mentors, and as an employee of the Paul J. Burgett Intercultural Center, the Language Center, and the Barbara J. Burger iZone.<\/p>\n

He also speaks four languages: English, French, Spanish, and Kinyarwanda\u2014the official language of Rwanda.<\/p>\n

Manzi says his love of community service was influenced at home in Kigali, where there were more than 10 people in the house\u2014parents, siblings, cousins\u2014at any time. \u201cI grew up in this communal, community-filled space,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I identify with a community, I feel it\u2019s my duty to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was born a year and a half after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a mass slaughter of more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus citizens by members of the Hutu government. Manzi lost family members in the atrocity, including his great grandfather, and says that while he was growing up, \u201cthe impact was still visible.\u201d It\u2019s a huge reason he and Murekezi created their summer youth peace camp, where campers reflect on the genocide and discuss ways to avoid something like that ever happening again. The July camp is held in the Rwamagana District in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. Plans for their third annual camp, in July, are under way.<\/p>\n

Manzi\u2019s education at Rochester has been greatly influenced by the freedom of the Rochester Curriculum. Manzi, who is a Birnbaum Scholar and a deKiewiet Scholar, started as a computer science major, switched to data science, and will graduate with a degree in economics. \u201cI took parts from all three and was able to create a learning experience that was unique,\u201d he says. \u201cI thank the University for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will stay at the University this fall, taking a few classes at the Warner School of Education before heading home for a year of family, projects that support his community, and professional development.<\/p>\n

Manzi is grateful he discovered the University that day in Rwanda five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my time here, I had great days, good days, and bad days, but I wouldn\u2019t trade any of it,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is going to sound corny, but I feel like my time here has literally been \u2018ever better.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Ian Manzi, a photo of Rush Rhees Library left behind in an office at his Rwandan high school changed his life. \u201cIt looked so beautiful, a representation of college,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":317212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[21642,23322,29502,16072],"class_list":["post-317202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-class-of-2018","tag-department-of-economics","tag-featured-post-side","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Rwanda to Rochester in one \u2018serendipitous\u2019 moment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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