From Parami to Postgrad: Ei Mon Soe pursues her next academic dream

Ei Mon Soe receives her Bard College diploma from Dr. Jonathan Becker, Acting President and Executive Director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College.

On June 8, 2026, at exactly 2:32 PM, Ei Mon Soe was still seated in a commencement panel discussion at Parami University. She had just finished speaking as a panelist for “Looking Back and Ahead: Seniors’ Journey from Classrooms to Beyond.” It was already a milestone moment—one that captured years of growth, challenges, and transformation.

But life had one more surprise waiting.

A message appeared in a LINE group chat with a PDF attachment containing scholarship results. There was no phone call, no personal email—just a document listing the names of successful candidates.

“Before I checked the file, my heart was literally beating,” Ei Mon recalled. “I opened it slowly and searched for my name. I screamed when I saw my name on the list.”

The moment felt more than just relief. It felt unreal.

The next day, she would walk across the graduation stage to receive her Bachelor’s degree after a nine-year journey shaped by COVID-19 disruptions, political uncertainty, and countless moments of perseverance. And now, just hours before graduation, she had secured the scholarship that would open the door to the next chapter of her academic journey.

When Ei Mon first arrived at Parami, she described herself as “just a girl with no real idea of what I wanted to do with my life.”

What changed was Parami’s liberal arts approach.

During her first two years, she explored humanities, arts, and subjects far beyond her eventual major in Statistics and Data Science. The experience expanded her understanding of the world and challenged her to see problems from different perspectives.

“It was an incredibly fun and eye-opening experience that allowed me to look at the world through different lenses,” she shared.

By the time she graduated, the transformation was clear.

“Before and after Parami are two totally different stories,” she said. “I went from being completely unsure of my path to becoming a focused, resilient scholar ready to tackle global issues.”

Ei Mon’s interest in energy and sustainability did not begin in a textbook. It started with a service-learning project with an organization focused on environmental sustainability.

Working directly in the field revealed something important.

“Working directly in the field made me realize just how happy I am doing this work,” she said.

That experience became the foundation for her senior capstone project, “Analysis of Single-Use Plastics’ Consumption in Myanmar and its Contribution to Climate Change.”

Using Exploratory Data Analysis and a custom CO2-equivalent emissions calculator, she examined the gap between public awareness and actual behavior around plastic consumption.

The analytical skills she developed at Parami gave her the tools to understand complex problems. But the experience taught her something beyond data.

“I realized I don’t want to just analyze problems anymore. I want to build the solutions.”

That realization shaped her next step.

Ei Mon was accepted into the Sustainable Energy and Resources Engineering (SERE) program under the TAIST-Science Tokyo Scholarship, a collaboration between NSTDA, leading Thai universities, and the Institute of Science Tokyo.

“After everything I have been through over the past nine years, I want to work on real, impactful global solutions,” she shared. “Energy and sustainability are critical for our future. Studying through this collaboration is the perfect opportunity to deepen my knowledge in the field and turn my long undergraduate journey into a meaningful career.”

For Ei Mon, this path is also deeply personal.

Growing up through periods of political instability in Myanmar showed her how quickly essential systems can be disrupted.

“When a country faces a crisis, you cannot rebuild communities without secure energy and stable resources,” she explained. “I want to take the data background I built at Parami and use it to develop actual clean energy systems and resource solutions our communities need to survive, rebuild, and thrive.”

The scholarship application came during her final semester, when she was already balancing her senior capstone project, academic responsibilities, and graduation preparation. “It definitely was not luck,” she said. “It was a chaotic balancing act.”

After passing the initial screening, she continued preparing intentionally. She arranged mock interviews with her academic advisor, sought advice from a current student in the program, and researched every step of the process carefully.

But despite all the preparation, doubts remained.

“I kept questioning if my background was actually enough to compete with all the other top students,” she reflected. “It was stressful, but my mindset from the start was just, ‘Let’s try it first.’ It did not matter whether I got accepted or not; I just wanted the experience of applying and interviewing, and I’m glad I pushed through and gave it a shot.”

There was something extraordinary about how June 8 and 9, 2026, unfolded.

On the afternoon of June 8, Ei Mon stood on stage as a panelist, reflecting on her journey from the classroom to the world beyond. Hours later, still surrounded by the same community that had supported her growth, she received news that quietly marked the beginning of her next chapter.

The following morning, June 9, she walked across the graduation stage to receive the degree she had spent nine years working toward.

“I can’t express in words how special it was to know the results a day before my BA graduation,” she said. “People might see this as pure luck or a perfect coincidence, but it was not. I felt like I was on cloud nine.”

The SERE program now gives her the opportunity to transform her long, nonlinear journey into a career at the intersection of engineering, data, and global sustainability.

For students who feel overwhelmed by deadlines, applications, and uncertainty, Ei Mon offers a reminder:

“Don’t worry if your timeline looks different from everyone else’s. It took me nine years to complete my Bachelor’s degree, and I received my acceptance to my Master’s program just one day before graduation. When you’re drowning in senior projects, assignments, and future applications all at once, take things step by step. Do mock interviews, seek help from seniors, and keep pushing forward. Your hard work will eventually connect all the dots at the right time.”

She also expressed deep gratitude to Parami University for shaping her academic journey.

“Thank you so much to Parami for being such an incredible part of my journey over these past few years. Navigating my Bachelor’s degree through COVID-19, the coup, and a long nine-year path was not easy, but the support I found here kept me moving forward. Getting to speak on the commencement panel was already an honor, but finding out I passed the scholarship right after made it unforgettable.”

“I could not have reached this next step without the foundation, encouragement, and community at Parami. I will proudly carry the spirit of Parami into my Master’s program.”

Nine years. One degree. One scholarship. One defining afternoon at 2:32 PM. And a future that arrived exactly when it was ready.