My Path to Stanford University Started at ChattState

Ashwyn Sam graduated from ChattState in 2017 with an associate degree in Mechanical Engineering he went on to obtain mechanical engineering and mathematics degrees from UTC and is currently working on his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at Stanford University in California. Ashwyn sat down with me and answered a few questions about his time here at ChattState. Below is a transcript of that interview.

Chris Lykins, Director of Marketing and Communication, ChattState
Today we're going to be talking to Ashwin, Sam, who graduated from ChattState in 2017, with an associate in mechanical engineering. 

Ashwyn Sam, ChattState Alumnus, PhD Student, Aerospace Engineering, Stanford University
Thank you, Chris. Thank you very much for having me here. It's nice to like, look back ChattState and visit the halls and walk through the library again. Nice to be here.

Chris
Awesome. We'll just go ahead and dive in. So why don't you tell us a little bit about how you got to ChattState that background story?

Ashwyn
Yeah, so I moved to America when I was 13 from India, and I started my freshman year of high school here in Chattanooga, at Ooltewah High School and when it was time to apply for colleges, I sort of put all my eggs into a few baskets. I didn't diversify my schools. I wanted to stay within like an hour, hour-and-a-half radius and for the goals that I had—you know, I wanted to be a physicist—Georgia Tech seemed to be like the best option close by close enough to me, and I felt that I had the grades and the scores or whatever it took to get into Georgia Tech, or like near like UT Knoxville, or UTC, etc. And I applied to these schools, and I was thrilled to find out that I got in.

However, what I didn't realize was when it came time for the tuition bill to come in was these ridiculous amounts of like $50-$60,000. I'm an international student. I'm here on a visa. I thought I would be like every other student from America. 

But that wasn't the case. What was even worse was that even though I was seeing all these crazy amounts (and Georgia, Georgia Tech, for instance, I knew I was going to have to pay out of state tuition because I'm a Tennessee resident), but I was like, okay, like at least, I can maybe get financial aid or loans or something. But no, I wasn't even eligible for that stuff. I wasn't eligible for financial aid. I wasn't eligible for federal loans, anything of that sort. I was technically eligible for private loans from banks, but those were at 10% interest rate. 

That was one of the darkest periods of my life. The summer after high school, all my closest friends were, you know, excitedly telling me about their colleges and their adventures that they're going on moving away. And I couldn't, I couldn't, you know, match their energy. I couldn't tell them that I was going to any school. 

There was a month. I remember after high school that summer. I didn't know absolutely where I was going to go. Felt very discouraged. You know, here I was with my prideful and arrogant self, thinking I could go to any school, and I couldn't go anywhere. I did look into ChattState. However, the people from my school going to ChattState was because of the Tennessee Promise, but I wasn't eligible for the Tennessee Promise. I was starting to lose hope, or I actually lost hope. 

My parents, however, didn't lose hope. 

They would just get in their car, and every weekend drive off to some university and practically begged them to like help their son, me, out. I remember on the first few weekends I would drive with them. I remember going to MTSU; I remember visiting a few schools in Nashville, we went to even Kentucky—all doors shut. And eventually I stopped going with them, but they still kept going. They eventually came here to ChattState. 

They knocked on the international office. She was kind enough to listen to my parents’ story and said, “Hey, we have this thing called the Global Scholars Program. Here's the contact; you should look into this.” So I'm parents immediately told me look into this. 

By this time, it was like really late into like application season. However, I still you know, email the director. And I email him saying hey, this is my situation. I know it's past the deadline; can I still apply? Almost immediately he responded saying yes. Absolutely. Like go ahead and put in your application and I did. And within like a few days I got the email saying I was accepted into the Global Scholars Program here. And for somebody who had lost all hoped thinking I couldn't go to any college like this was the best thing like I'm very, very grateful and thankful for that. And so that's ultimately why I initially decided to come to ChattState. 

In retrospect, I'm super happy. You know, like I even if I could have gone to Georgia, even if I could go back in time and like, rearrange my life to go to Georgia Tech. I don't think I would take it. I think this is the best thing that could have happened to me even though at that moment I was so frustrated and so mad that I couldn't go to school anywhere or that I couldn't go to Georgia Tech or UT Knoxville or UTC. Coming to ChattState I think was the best path I could have taken because of everything I learned.

Chris
Can you tell me a little bit then once you got to ChattState—where we've gone through so far is just this great arc of desperation to someone finally listening and helping open the door and saying, “We can help you here.” Once you got to ChattState, what did it mean to be a Global Scholar? Can you talk a little bit about what the Global Scholar Program is and how it helped?

Ashwyn
Yeah, a couple of things. One, it gave me a great set of friends—a community. Google Scholars had their own set of classes for certain subjects. So, within engineering, I was a mechanical engineering major, we had a few classes to take, but there was a normal like ChattState class for it, but there's also like an honors class, which was filled with Global Scholars students. And so, my first year, I was exposed to other global scholars, and they became my friends. And most of us transferred to UTC. So, we just kind of kept the same group. So, the first thing I'm very thankful to Global Scholars for is the people that were that they gave me, the friends that I had, and to this day I keep in touch with them. 

Second is, is the exposure to just very different kinds of people, people that I probably just wouldn't have met at a place like Georgia Tech, for instance. I bet if I went to Georgia Tech, I would be surrounded by people mostly like me, people who, who had the privilege of getting a good education at a young age and like we're driven to like do these things in science etc. But at ChattState and Global Scholars, you meet people of various different backgrounds, especially people much older than me. I remember making friends that are over 60 years of age, you know, I don't I don't know other part of my life or is that making friends that old. But the things that they were teaching me and exposing me to, like there's no price to the lessons they taught me and also the people from different countries. You know, I was meeting people from all walks of life different ethnicities, different cultures, different ages —Global Scholars exposed me to that. 

And global scholars also brought in speakers from different backgrounds. They would give us these books to read and then bring in the speakers. I remember really enjoying that aspect of reading these books and getting to talk to the authors and getting in their minds to understand, why they wrote the books this way. So, there was an enhanced aspect of the education as a receiving at ChattState as well, which I'm very thankful for. So those are like the first three things that come to mind.

Chris
I love that. You mentioned the idea of community. I think it's one of the things that oftentimes, it's a part of our name, but we kind of ignore it. And I think it's one of the most valuable things that you gain at ChattState—that community of other learners, people your age, but also people outside of your age group or outside of your ethnic group, and I love the diversity of the community that we have here. So I'm really excited that kind of stood out to you as something too.

I think in a speech you had given earlier you talked about the value of Amanda Bennett who was an advisor for you. Can you just talk about that a little bit?

Ashwyn
Looking back on my life, and like the obstacles I had. And I don't want to overblow my obstacles.Yes, there were obstacles and I was frustrated at the moment, but it wasn't that bad. Like there's people who are here that have been through like 100 times worse things. 

However, I was, I remember frustrated being… This is this analogy I think of. Other people had keys to doors they could unlock. My friends you know who went to school they could just, in my mind, like picture like they just had keys to unlock these doors are in front of them and I didn't. However, I did have a demolition crew to knock these doors down with and at the front of this demolition crew is Amanda Bennett. Like that's where I picture her because Amanda, um, in a time in my life when I just felt extremely hopeless, Amanda was there to tell me that it's going to be okay. 

Like this whole start here go anywhere thing was implemented in me through Amanda. 

Amanda made me believe that I could start here and go anywhere. I remember, for instance, me wanting to be a physicist. I remember sitting with Amanda the first time I met her. We had a very lengthy discussion about my future. And she encouraged me to think about engineering instead. That's what I did. I remember officially declaring Mechanical Engineering as my major while I was sitting with her,  because of her advice. I think it's one of the best advice I've ever gotten. I've been able to continue my education in that and like and I'm here today because of like my engineering background. And two was yes, I was thankful that this door at ChattState opened. But in my mind, I was always like what about after the two years like where am I going to do my third and fourth year? I remember asking Amanda, and Amanda was like, It's okay. Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it. And she said it with such confidence in her voice that I couldn't not believe her. Even though she didn't give me like a very clear answer to like, here's what's gonna happen. There was still a confidence that made me feel at ease. 

And I think about a year later, Amanda fought for people like me here at ChattState and represented us on our behalf at UTC. And I remember there was a big signing. I remember seeing the photos where there is this big event where they officially declared that UTC Honors College would take in students who had completed the Global Scholars Program here. That didn't exist before. Amanda made that happen. Amanda and Dr. Linda Frost who was the director of the Honors College at UTC—they're the two people I think of as like, in the front of my demolition crew like breaking down these barriers for me because they have done so much for me. 

I mean, this is just the things that I'm saying here. But making it possible for me to not only go to college but making it possible for me to afford college. they played a huge part in that. 

Amanda just made me believe you know, she really did make me believe  start here go anywhere, and I'm very thankful for that.

Chris
I love Dr. Bennett. She's an amazing person here at ChattState, and I consider her a good friend. So I love hearing that she didn't just help you open the door. She was a demolition crew to break down those obstacles and barriers. When did you finish your program here at ChattState

Ashwyn
2017

Chris
Okay, and have you finished at UTC or how is that going or tell us a little bit about where you are now?

Ashwyn
Yeah, so I finished ChattStat 2017. Then I transferred straight to UTC. I graduated from UTC with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and also a bachelor's in mathematics. And then in 2020 I moved to California to go to grad school. And I'm currently doing a PhD at Stanford in aerospace engineering.

Chris
Amazing! That is so awesome and exciting. I love hearing that. 

How do you think that all the people that you've talked a little bit about; so, your community of students, Dr. Bennett, Dr. Frost at UTC, are there any things that you can point to that happened at ChattState and even UTC that you're, like, these are foundational for what's happening now in California?

Ashwyn
Absolutely. Absolutely.

I was one of those kids that was too focused on accomplishing goals. I was a little too ambitious, I think. I think I was willing to compromise anything for achieving these goals that I had. And not being able to go to college was a very humbling experience. That whole thinking I couldn't go to college after my high school. And I learned a very important lesson that I could not have learned if I hadn't gone to ChattState or UTC. I thought that talent and hard work alone can get you to the places you want to go. But I realized that's only partially true. Hard work talent plus a crap-ton of people in your life. And ChattState and UTC gave me people in my life. 

For the very first time in my life, I think, I started to put the people in my life above everything else. And things like my academics, things like these goals that I was mentioning earlier, they took a backseat. I didn't want to define my entire life on my grades or the awards I've won. I wanted to be remembered as a good friend, as a good listener, or good. you know, fill in the blank. Cause I realized the importance of people in my life, like, as I was writing my grad school application, I was like, man, every single success or quote unquote, success that I've listed in here was not because of anything I did. It was because I've had like, again, this demolition crew. I've had my parents; I've had Amanda; I've had Dr. Frost. Many, many professors at ChattState at UTC, that have helped me accomplish these things. 

Even though I was the subject of my story; I felt like a background, I felt like just not the main character because I didn't really do—yes, I’m getting the recognition, I guess, but behind me I had all these people. And that's the important lesson I've taken with me as I went to Stanford. I do enough to make sure I get my grades or like I get my classes done, but I'm not so focused that I compromise on the people around me. I think to this day, I value the people in my life more than I have in most times in my life. And that's the lesson I've taken with me to California, and I think I'm living it like I think I'm cherishing the people in my life more than ever, and ChattState and UTC taught me that because without people I wouldn't be where I am. And I want to be the same for other people, generations after me. And that's why I mentioned to you if I could go back in time and change the way things were. I wouldn't because of the life lessons I've learned being a ChattState being at UTC.

Chris
It's almost impossible to go on after that statement. I mean, that's such a great like you're learning balance the balance of ambition and relationships and community. And then the idea that you hope to be able to pay forward those important life lessons that you've learned. 

That's really, really awesome. 

I did want to talk one, brief moment. One thing I noticed when I was reading the transcript for your speech, I guess it was near graduation time at ChattState. You mentioned a few different songs in there. So it's it struck me as though music must play an important part of your life. What do you want to share a favorite song or something that helps you study or something along those lines or you're like I hate music, actually.

Ashwyn
No, no, that's interesting you brought that up. I have I forgot about that speech until you mentioned it earlier today. Okay. I guess I should let you know a couple of things. One is that I had a bunch of my friends come watch the speech with me. And I think I put a lot of that stuff in as like an inside joke to them because these are things that we talked about, we joke about with them. I remember I think I put a DJ Khaled thing in there and one of my friends in the audience is like a huge fan. So it was more of like a shout out to him. However, there was a Kendrick Lamar song I put. Alright. And I guess that's sort of like a motto that I have, right? Like, it's gonna be alright. Like, yes, you may have started, you know, like, there's things not happening your way today, but it's gonna be alright. I'm an optimistic person and I do think I have like that positive outlook like it's yes, it's okay. Yes, like it sucks right now, but it's gonna be alright. And I think that's the context. I mentioned it in; I don't remember but, but Kendrick Lamar, I love Kendrick Lamar, huge fan of his music, his art and, and that's one of the songs that have stood out to me.

Chris
Awesome. Well, thank you for helping me connect the dots there. I was so curious about that. Well, I really appreciate the time you've given us today. It's just awesome to hear this story from someone who's walked the halls of ChattState, who's gone beyond to now UTC and now in California working on your PhD. I really appreciate you taking this time to just tell us your story. Thank you so much for joining us today.