Hello, my name is Kareem Jabbar Downer-Shojgreen and I am a motivated, personable business professional with a B.A. and a Masters in Educational Technology backed with solid work experience. One of my best attributes is my sense of humor.  I am poised and competent with a demonstrated ability to easily transcend class and cultural differences. I flourish in deadline-driven environments and I have excellent people skills.

​

My greatest accomplishment in life was my graduation from Michigan State University, here in the United States with my B.S. The reason why this is my greatest accomplishment in life, is because I’m from Panama City, Panama and obtaining a degree from a major university is something that few of my countrymen and women have been able to do.

​

I was fortunate that my parents were very dedicated scholars, who made sure that their children had the best chance at an education possible,  they understood that in order to be a contributing member of any society an education was needed. Both of my parents were respected educators in Panama and in 1988 my father received an offer from Michigan State University to further his scholastic achievement, which he accepted. The following year my mother and my older brother and I came to Michigan to join my father. When I arrived, I was 14 years old, spoke little English and I was a freshman in a high school world that I was not familiar with. I spent my first 2 years learning the language and assimilating as much as I could to this culture that I suddenly belong to.

​

My biggest challenges were the climate change, the language, and the culture, which when placed together became overwhelming. After graduating high school I attended Lansing Community College for 4 years because our family did not have enough money to send both my brother and I to school at the same time. One semester away from graduating from Lansing Community College I was informed that our family could not get monetary assistance in order to send me to Ferris State University, thus I had to change my scholastic plans and come to Michigan State University, but unfortunately 80% of my classes would not transfer. After abandoning my Associates' degree in order to take just enough classes to cut the cost of my first semester of education at Michigan State University, I pursued my B.S., in Food Industry Management which I obtained in 4 years. From this scholastic experience I learned that family is the most important source of strength when you’re in a world that feels alien. The second most important things were dedication and perseverance  that would get me through the day-to-day situations. Even though I had three major obstacles in my way, I was able to graduate and place myself in a position where I had a future.

​

That period of time in my family's life was difficult, frustrating, and sometimes emotionally painful. From 1989 until 2002 as a family we suffered many losses that have permanently changed the course of our family but these sacrifices were necessary in order to fulfill my own and my parents dream of having both of their children obtain a degree, which is the key that would allow us to achieve any other future objectives in their lives.