CELOP Alumni: Where Are They Now? Azimkhan Kozhakhmetov, Kazakhstan

in Highlight
April 13th, 2018

1. What is your name?

Azimkhan Kozhakhmetov.

2. Where are you from?

Kazakhstan.

3. Where do you live now?

State College, PA, US.

4. When and for how long did you study at CELOP?

January 2014 – December 2014.

5. Why did you choose CELOP?

I had a choice to go to Boston and California. My acquaintance was studying at CELOP and recommended that Boston is a nice place to be.

6. What were some of the things you liked most about CELOP? Do you have a favorite memory?

I like and appreciate every day I spent in CELOP. I owe everything what I know as an English speaker to CELOP teachers. My speaking and listening abilities were not that bad, but I had an enormous problem with my grammar. My first teachers were George, Ellen and Tim which almost helped to build my skills brick by brick. At the second semester I had an excellent teachers and classmates. With Diana who had Italian roots we could talk about Dante’s Divine comedy, with my friends Alexey and Umut from Russia and Turkey, we were just enjoying to discuss about Chuck Palahniuk’s books. And the last but not the least is Shelley who makes the environment in CELOP. Even after I left CELOP, I visited a lot and when we were making a road trip all around the US for 25 days, we stayed at Shelley’s parents’ house in Montana where her sister was a very helpful as she is.

7. In what ways did CELOP help you prepare for what you are doing now?

Writing classes with Tim was very helpful. I took two semesters of writing classes with him and now it is actually helping me to write a scientific papers. The first is already done.

8. Where did you attend college for your undergraduate degree? What was your major and when did you graduate?

I started my education in Kazakh National University in Kazakhstan, and transferred to Joint Institute of Nuclear Research in Dubna, Moscow, Russia. My undergraduate major was in Physics. Then I graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in summer 2017 with Master’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering.

9. Where are you working/studying now?

Now, I am working towards my PhD at the Pennsylvania State University. I am a graduate research assistant at Materials Science & Engineering Department and developing a novel semiconductor materials for Intel.

10. Tell us about what you want to do in the future. What is your dream job?

Eventually, I want to be a professor or scientist in US national laboratories and have my own lab. The most precious thing that brings me a joy is teaching.

11. What was your favorite thing to do in Boston?

I did two things: almost every day after classes I went to the harbor area, Italian side of the city is gorgeous. Since I am coming from a landlocked country, and grew up reading books of Stevenson, Jules Verne, and Jack London about adventures in seas, it was my weakness and still it is, just walk around the harbor. The second one is live concerts. Most of my money went to attend live concerts in Boston and Mansfield, MA. Linkin Park, Thirty seconds to mars, Lana Del Ray, Lykke Li, Coldplay, One Republic, Script and etc. that are the short list of the concerts that I have been.

12. What was your favorite restaurant in Boston?

I am not a person who likes to experiment with new foods, but only place I would go again and again is called Yummy Café in Allston where they have a delicious beef with broccoli.

13. What would you tell someone who is thinking about studying at CELOP but is unsure?

CELOP is a perfect place to improve English skills. The environment, staff and teachers make CELOP as an outstanding school for everybody.