{"id":1338,"date":"2010-07-01T17:58:42","date_gmt":"2010-07-01T17:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2016-01-04T21:06:09","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T21:06:09","slug":"my-auggie-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2010\/07\/01\/my-auggie-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"My Auggie experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

By all accounts\u2014his own included\u2014sophomore Gottlieb Uahengo ’13 had a difficult first semester at Augsburg College.<\/p>\n

Making the move to Minneapolis from his home in Namibia meant many changes. He missed his family and friends and got sick five times from the food. He was introduced to Mountain Dew and the effects of over-consumption. \u201cI didn\u2019t sleep for several days,\u201d he says. And when he witnessed his first snowfall, a fellow student asked him, \u201cAre you alright? You look disturbed.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"picture<\/a>Uahengo is a Legacy Scholarship student. His father graduated from the University of Minnesota and came to work in Augsburg\u2019s Physics Department while his wife, Fredericka \u201990, completed her degree in education. Gottlieb was actually born at Fairview Riverside Hospital but lived most of his life in Oshakati, Namibia, where his father is a pharmacist and his mother serves as the rector of Ongwediva Teachers College.<\/p>\n

When it came time to apply for college, Uahengo\u2019s father said, \u201cI\u2019m sending you to Augsburg.\u201d Because Uahengo wants to be an engineer, his father wanted him to study in a small school with a good physics department. \u201cMy father holds professors [Mark] Engebretson and [Jeff] Johnson in high esteem,\u201d Uahengo says. \u201cHe told me I would get more out of my education at Augsburg than at a large, public university.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father also told him to be prepared for the challenge of college life. \u201cHe said the best way to overcome adversity is to become part of the community, to take a leap of faith.\u201d And that\u2019s exactly what led to a better second semester and a successful first year at Augsburg for Uahengo.<\/p>\n

Greg Holker, Augsburg\u2019s men\u2019s soccer coach, said Uahengo looked frightened and overwhelmed when the two first met last summer. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure he would amount to much as a soccer player because he seemed frail physically and psychologically,\u201d Holker recalls.<\/p>\n

After a tentative start, Holker says the first-year player definitely made an impact on the team. \u201cHe scored a big goal against Buena Vista and took off in training from that point on,\u201d says Holker. \u201cHe sought out improvement and soaked up as much information as he could. Rarely do I see a person that determined to learn and learn quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebekah Dupont, whom Uahengo calls his mentor, says he displayed the same tenacity in his academics as on the soccer field. Dupont worked with him in Augsburg\u2019s North Star STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program. He participated in the calculus workshop, a class in which students work together on challenging problems. He also got involved in a research project, something not many first-year students take on.<\/p>\n

\u201cGottlieb has very high expectations for himself, and I think this made adapting to so many new things all at once a challenge,\u201d Dupont says. \u201cAs he feels more comfortable and confident, those high expectations and strong work ethic will serve him very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to conducting research during the school year, Uahengo is working on a summer project with another student and professor Ben Stottrup of the Physics Department. This fall he will be an officer with Augsburg\u2019s International Student Organization and will continue to play soccer. He also hopes to compete on the track team as a sprinter in the spring term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I set my mind to something, it\u2019s hard to sway me,\u201d Uahengo says. \u201cI am always looking for a way to be engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By all accounts\u2014his own included\u2014sophomore Gottlieb Uahengo ’13 had a difficult first semester at Augsburg College. Making the move to Minneapolis from his home in Namibia meant many changes. He missed his family and friends and got sick five times from the food. He was introduced to Mountain Dew and the effects of over-consumption. \u201cI <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[62,65,47],"class_list":["post-1338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-mens-soccer","tag-my-auggie-experience","tag-summer-2010"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5760,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1338\/revisions\/5760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}