{"id":1228,"date":"2023-05-02T15:02:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T19:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/2023\/05\/02\/up-for-the-challenge\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:49:20","slug":"up-for-the-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.ucomm.ncsu.edu\/web-platform-free-tier\/2023\/05\/02\/up-for-the-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Up for the Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

First-generation college students make up one out of every four members of the Wolfpack today.<\/a> Unbeknownst to some, though, are the number of challenges these students face as they navigate their college careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omry Brewster is one of those students. As she gears up for graduation this May, her experience at NC State has helped her harness campus resources to overcome some of the challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she progressed in time, Brewster was recognized by faculty and staff as a blossoming leader. Their guidance opened up a world of new ideas and possibilities \u2014 most prominently the hyper-emergent field of data science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an unwavering commitment to excellence, a lot of perseverance and a little help from private philanthropy, Brewster is using NC State as a springboard to a big and bright future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diving in Head First<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While her parents didn\u2019t graduate from college, Brewster embraced early on their desire for her to obtain a four-year degree. She spent a good chunk of her childhood on the move with her family around Charlotte, North Carolina, attending eight different schools before graduating from high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she arrived on NC State\u2019s campus for an admitted students day prior to her enrollment in fall 2019, she was blown away by the number of resources on display. In addition to those student assets, Brewster was drawn to the large campus community, something often out of reach amidst her transient childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI learned a lot about what the school offered and it just seemed like there was no way that I wouldn’t be able to be successful with the plethora of opportunities that were offered,\u201d Brewster said. \u201cAnd it made me and my parents feel secure in my choice, like if she goes here, I know she’ll be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once on campus, Brewster quickly threw herself into her studies \u2014 even as the COVID-19 pandemic raised uncertainties. She took a minimum of 16 credits each semester, plus summer classes. But in order to make ends meet financially, Brewster wasn\u2019t afforded the luxury of simply being a student. She needed to find work that could fit alongside her busy class schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Omry<\/a>
Brewster spends a lot of time on NC State’s Centennial Campus, where she works as a Community Assistant Coordinator for University Housing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She first turned to University Housing, where she became a Community Assistant (CA) her sophomore year, manning the front desk of her residence hall and assisting fellow residents of the building. By her senior year, Brewster was promoted to Community Assistant Coordinator (CAC), a leadership position that supervises a group of CAs. One big perk of the new position was that housing expenses are covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to being a CAC, this year Brewster is working as a course collaboration leader for the NC State Data Science Academy and interning as a data analyst at VisionPoint Marketing in Raleigh. She averages about 30-35 hours working each week across the three jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with all this extra effort and financial aid, Brewster still found herself having to take out some student loans to cover all her costs. That\u2019s why she found it so impactful to be selected as the recipient of two NC State scholarships: the Wandra B. Hill Scholarship<\/strong> and the Arnater and Viola Nivens Scholarship<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two scholarships have allowed Brewster to build up her savings and to explore post-graduation plans. After recently being accepted, she will be attending NC State\u2019s Institute for Advanced Analytics<\/a> beginning fall 2023, a one-year intensive graduate program that trains aspiring data scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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100% Employment<\/h2>

100% of the 2022 graduating class of NC State’s Institute of Advanced Analytics was employed by graduation.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Competitive Salaries<\/h2>

The average base salary for the 2022 graduating class was $107,900.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Network of Alumni<\/h2>

Over 1,200 successful IAA alumni are currently working in over 425 organizations worldwide.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Falling in Love with Data Science<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the spring semester of her junior year, Brewster was sitting in for an academic advising session. With her breakneck speed of moving through classes, she was running out of credits. Her academic advisor suggested taking some courses in the Data Science Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had never heard of it,\u201d Brewster said. \u201cBut I was like, why not? I\u2019m always down to learn a new skill.\u201d That yes ended up being an important inflection point in Brewster\u2019s academic and future career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2021, the Data Science Academy<\/a> is a campus organization that \u201cnetworks and catalyzes data science and AI\u201d across all aspects of NC State. The primary way that it does this is through its wide variety of one-credit hour, project-based data science courses open to any NC State student, regardless of their major, as well as faculty, staff and alumni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an applied math major with a financial concentration in the College of Sciences, Brewster hadn\u2019t really considered data science prior to that meeting with her advisor. After beginning with an introductory class that utilized the coding languages R and Python, however, she was head over heels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n