Victoria Keo: "Meeting great people at University of Houston is what kept me pushing myself to become successful"

Victoria Keo is eager to share how she accomplished graduating this spring from University of Houston with her "dream major" in mechanical engineering technology because she knows how inspiring it can be to hear another person's story. She advises other Cougars to:

"Share your experiences because there could be someone in the same position as you who may look at you as a role model and take your advice."

Keo's family emigrated from Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge and settled in southeast Houston. After graduating high school, she secured a scholarship to UH. She wanted to take "full advantage" of this financial support and applied herself to college life inside and outside of the classroom. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted her plans. She felt isolated and lonely her first two years at UH despite social engagement. When the pandemic forced people to stay home, she found her motivation as a student slipping.

What helped revive her sense of purpose were the people with whom she surrounded herself. She realized the key to remaining motivated was to maintain a strong network of friends and family. She passes on this advice to other students.

"Meeting great people at the University of Houston and surrounding myself with a supportive community and family is what kept me pushing myself to become successful."

On graduation day, she looks forward to being able to look at her friends and say, "We made it!" This sense of accomplishment is what she held onto as she persevered through her hardest classes.

"I knew that attending classes and pushing through would help me in the future, so I decided to keep going and finding ways to motivate myself as well as my peers around me."

Her hard work won't finish with graduation day. This summer, she will work with LJA Engineering, an employee-owned consulting engineering firm, as a land development intern.

Her gratitude for her time at UH is hard for her to encapsulate. If she were to meet a donor, she admits she would struggle to express how thankful she is through words alone.

"I don’t think that only one moment will show how much gratitude that I have. Instead, my success is going to be how I fully express my gratitude."