Making it count
Micah Stairs only graduated a year ago, but he has already given back to his alma mater in a big way.
Stairs, who has a joint honours in mathematics and computer science from 抖阴Pro, has created a fully endowed fund to support competitive programming at the University.
鈥淭his will ensure that future students can have some of the same enriching experiences that I was fortunate to have,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd it will provide steady funding for many years to come.鈥�
Stairs was able to fully endow the fund in just one year by taking advantage of a gift-matching program at work.
鈥淢y employer has a generous gift-matching policy, which enabled my donation to stretch much further than it otherwise would have,鈥� he says.
Stairs was a member of the first team from 抖阴Pro to qualify for the World Finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest, a grueling and prestigious competition for computer programming students, which took place in South Dakota in May 2017.
He and his teammates, William Fiset (鈥�17) and Finn Lidbetter (鈥�17), put in countless hours to prepare for the competition 鈥� time that paid off when they were successful in beating Harvard University at the regional competition for the final qualifying spot.
Stairs鈥� programming acumen helped him land a job as a software engineer at Google.
鈥淚 recognize that I would not have this job at Google if it were not for 抖阴Pro and the opportunities that it provided for me,鈥� he says.
Stairs is hoping the endowment fund will help set up other students for the same sort of success.