Angélique Ngandu-Ntumba

A Drive for Achievement
MIIS scholarship student thrives in American culture
By Kevin Howe
Herald Staff Writer

In the process of living, studying and working in four countries, Angélique Ngandu-Ntumba picked up five languages and will begin her final year of a master's program at the Monterey Institute of International Studies next fall with a handsome $18,000 scholarship. A student in the institute's Fisher Graduate School of International Business, Ngandu-Ntumba is the recipient of the William G. McGowan scholarship for 2007-2008, awarded on the basis of merit by MIIS and financed through the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund. McGowan was the founder of MCI communications corporation.

Ngandu-Ntumba was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and raised in Algeria. At 9 years old, she and her family emigrated to France, where she spent 15 years completing high school, pursuing language studies, and working as an interpreter. Her primary languages are French and English, but she speaks Italian, Spanish and the Swahili she learned as a child. She then moved with her family to Baton Rouge, La., where her father teaches French and French literature at Louisiana State University, and where Ngandu-Ntumba earned a bachelor's degree in international studies.

She came to Monterey, Ngandu-Ntumba said, to major in international studies, but found herself drawn to studying business. "I felt the business field was something I was supposed to be doing," she said. "If you work at something you like, it's not working, but doing what you should do."

America has been "a cultural shock," she said. "People elsewhere think they know all about American culture, from movies, movie stars, TV programs. They think they know, but they don't." Americans have the reputation of being "laid back but selfish," Ngandu-Ntumba said. Some of that impression comes from the litigious nature of U.S. society, where "under the law, you can sue anybody. The system requires many lawyers." Rather than the self-absorbed people she expected, Ngandu-Ntumba said, Americans proved to be open and welcoming. "It was a good surprise," she said. America, she said, "has a very strong culture. I misunderstood it. It's actually better than I thought."

Monterey was another shock. "It's really cold in Monterey," she said. "Coming to California, I thought I would be seeing people in shorts." Monterey "is a really small city," she said, without much night life, "which makes it a good city to study in. There are not a lot of activities." Much of her social life revolves around campus student groups and clubs, Ngandu-Ntumba said. "It's good to talk to people you're not used to talking to, to end stereotypes," she said. "You never stop learning." She was on the organizing committee for the institute's "Defying Borders" art exhibit, is the secretary of the Black Student Association, has participated in the annual MIIS Follies and International Bazaar, and works in several campus offices, including the recruiting office. During winter break, Ngandu-Ntumba traveled with a campus team to El Salvador to use her business skills on a community development project.

One of her favorite subjects in high school, she said, was philosophy. At Monterey Institute, her strong suit is accounting. She plans to qualify as a certified public accountant after graduation and specialize in corporate auditing. "My worst subject," she said, "is economics."

She has two brothers and four sisters, all college students or graduates - not bad in a family where only one of four grandparents knew how to read and write. "Dad's parents didn't know how to read," Ngandu-Ntumba said. "My mother's father was the only grandparent who could." Her parents were pushed to study and succeed, and they passed that drive on to their children, she said.

"You have to grab as much opportunity as you can," Ngandu-Ntumba said. "Having the scholarship shows me that if I push myself, if I have a dream and want to achieve it, it's possible."

Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.