Dolica Gopisetty has been excelling since he arrived in America at the age of seven. Today, at 21, he is an honors student at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.

“I like technology. I like taking things apart, putting them back together and seeing how they work. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve always liked engineering,” Dolica Gopisetty said.

That interest led him to become one of the youngest students to be certified in George Mason University’s new undergraduate cloud computing program. The program partners with Northern Virginia Community College and Amazon Web Services. The program helps prepare students for high-demand careers in Northern Virginia and beyond.

The certificate helped Gopisetty land a paid internship at USA Today, a national news network where he worked part-time as a software development engineer on the content engineering team.

“I’m really grateful because the certification has definitely changed my career,” he said. Gopisetty is also involved in activities outside of the classroom. He is the founder and president of the Association of Engineers, which aims to bridge the gap between school and career.

Earlier this year, he was invited to speak at two major educational conferences hosted by Amazon Web Services, where he discussed the impact of cloud computing in education.

“I think that's when I felt like all the hard work I had put in through college, through high school and throughout my life had paid off,” Dolica said.

GMU Interim President Anne Holton said Gopisetty is a good example of her university's success.

“The diversity that he brings in terms of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds is the kind of diversity that employers really look for because it helps them do their jobs well,” Holton said.

Gopisetty said he was grateful for all the opportunities he was given, but like many international students, he felt uneasy about his visa status.

He arrived in the United States with his parents in 2005 as a dependent, on an H-4 visa.

Fourteen years later, at the age of 21 and a senior in college, he was forced to leave the United States, return to his native India and return to America on an F-1 student visa.

“In order to stay legally and continue my studies in this country, I need to have valid documents and the only thing I need is a student visa,” said Anne Holton.

Gopisetty is one of the million international students in the United States, 20 percent of whom are from India. But according to the Institute of International Education, visa uncertainty is one of the many reasons why fewer international students are studying in the United States.

Although Gopisetty is grateful to his friends and mentors at George Mason University, he wants to become an American.

“After living in this country for the past 14 years, I just want to call this country my official home. And wherever I go in the world, I will always say that I will come back to my country,” Holton said. [my/jm]