Saratou Bako Bagassa

Who I am

I am an international student from Niger who found Computer Science almost by accident. My first exposure was an Intro to Robotics class during my first semester at Berea, in a field I had once assumed was out of reach because of gender stereotypes back home. I have been hooked ever since, and I now split my technical energy between the Student Software Development Team and projects outside of the classroom.

But service has always been the throughline of my life, long before code was. Growing up in Niger, I watched child marriage affect girls I knew, their health, their ability to stay in school, and eventually understood that the deeper issue was not the practice itself but the gender inequity underneath it, showing up in different forms across the community. That is part of why I added Economics as a second major. Working on policy papers and representing my school at Model African Union showed me how much impact policy has on people who never get a say in shaping it.

I am working toward using technology, economics, and nonprofit experience together, to help design systems and policies that are more inclusive and to help people from marginalized backgrounds reach their full potential.