Dan Waterbly

Dan Waterbly wanted to go to college to be a doctor, but he fainted at the sight of blood. He had to pick a different field. “After taking my first programming class, I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” Dan says.

Despite what he “wanted to do,” Dan’s Eastern story mirrors that of many students who come to campus with an abundance of hopes, dreams, intelligence, motivation, and ambition – but a lack of money.

“When I was a student at EWU,” Dan says, “I had no financial aid and had to work three part-time jobs – totaling 70 hours per week – on top of going to school, to avoid the burden of a lot of student loans. I feel like I would have benefited from a scholarship, and I would have had more time to focus on scholastic achievements.”

Overcoming the obstacles, Dan went on to graduate from Eastern in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems. “EWU is a great university,” Dan says. “I loved nearly all of my computer science courses and found the instructors to be very helpful and genuinely vested in their students.

“My favorite computer science project at EWU was working on a banking application for Spokane Teachers Credit Union. I appreciated working with an actual organization and having a team comprised of varied disciplines. Getting that real-world experience helped me get where I am today; working as a senior software engineer with a great company in Spokane.”

Dan wants more computer science students to have the same experience at Eastern – without having to struggle through excessive hours at work or burdensome student loans – so donating to the EWU Computer Science Alumni Scholarship Endowment is a natural next step for him. “When Computer Science senior lecturer, Stu Steiner, asked me to contribute to the scholarship endowment, I happily donated,” Dan says.

If you can relate to stories about smart, motivated students who want to enroll in computer science classes at EWU, only to find the cost is an obstacle, you can join Dan today in helping to ensure those students get the chance to pursue their dreams.

“Together, you and I can build the EWU Computer Science Alumni Scholarship Endowment to award more scholarships to deserving undergraduate students in computer science or computer information systems,” Dan says. “There are countless exciting, promising career opportunities for our fellow alumni who have put in the hours to obtain computer science degrees. Let’s help students get there by donating today to the EWU Computer Science Alumni Scholarship Endowment.”

To make a gift, give now or contact Melanie Miller at 509.359.6833 or melanie.miller@ewu.edu.