Two years ago, I wrote my first Profile (called “Campus Cutie” back then) on one of my first friends on campus, Travis Gayle. Travis and I had just come back to campus extremely inspired from a Gates Scholarship conference that we attended together in Chantilly, Virginia. Since then, this guy has been one of my closest and favorite of friends! Everyone knows Travis, and everyone knows that his words of wisdom serve as incredible pieces of love and encouragement to all those around him. Not only is he one of the most driven individuals that I have ever met, but he also always goes out of his way to say hello to someone and make them smile. After spending a semester abroad in London together, I decided to interview him again and see how much things have changed with this Class of ’18 Keenan cutie from Jamaica, New York.
Why do you love computer science?
I love Computer Science because it’s applicable to everything. It’s such a broad field, but every aspect of it is relevant. It allows me to use different skill sets to come up with creative solutions to real world problems.
What would you tell someone who is considering studying abroad?
Study abroad is an experience that many people do not get to have. That being said, if the opportunity is there for you to take it, apply at the least. It gives you the opportunity to grow. I often hear people not going abroad because they are going to miss football season. First, we get 24 home games…we don’t get 24 opportunities at Notre Dame to study abroad. Second, it’s a lot cheaper when you do it while you’re a student.
What advice would you give to your freshman year self?
I would tell my freshman year self to not go out every weekend and to instead take some weekends for myself to reflect and just relax. It was probably one of the poorer life choices I made first semester and some of second semester freshman year, but It was a learning experience. Had I not gone through that, I’m not sure if I would’ve developed the mindset that I have now.
What are your future goals?
My future goals are to work in a place where I can bridge my love for tech with my passion for engaging with people, serving as a mentor in and out of the work place, and to have a beautiful family that I can call my own. I just want to be happy and show people how blessed we all are.
What do you think needs to change about Notre Dame? What do you think it is doing correctly?
There’s plenty that needs to change at Notre Dame. It’s hard to say everything that has and has not changed when I’ve escaped the bubble for a semester, which I think, is kind of a good thing and very much so necessary depending on who you are. Nonetheless, a few things personally, I would say are: we need to address socioeconomic status because it is an issue and almost no one talks about it. As a school, as one people, we need to show support for undocumented immigrants. I find it funny how, not everyone, but some people mistreat my fellow peers for this reason, but had none of my peers came out and said they were undocumented, they would have been treated differently. Race is of course another one. Sexual orientation is another. The list goes on. This is one of those questions that I couldn’t give you a short or complete answer because it goes way deeper than even what I’m saying now, but just know that there is a lot of room for improvement and I’m willing to have the conversation with anyone about it. I just ask that you be respectful when we engage in discussion. Things being done correctly: providing opportunities for things like study abroad to people who without financial aid may not have been able to afford it, doing more to support our multicultural and special interest clubs, sometimes speaking out about injustice, addressing that there is an issue with sexual assault and how we deal with that on campus, and moving in a direction where diversity in all aspects is improved in spite of the number being small.
Images provided by Travis Gayle.
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