Raul Aguilera Ramirez Makes an Impression

Raul Aguilera Ramirez makes an impression. By the time he graduated from UNO with his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting in 2018, he had already started companies and served hundreds of people online through providing increased access to educational services. It should come as no surprise, then, that Raul has gone on to even more great adventures since leaving UNO, most recently being identified as a finalist in the competitive Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans competition.

Raul came from South Sioux City to UNO and quickly made an impression as a first-generation Mexican-American student awarded the DREAMer scholarship. Raul’s commitment to access was evident back in 2015, when he advocated for DREAMers having access to drivers’ licenses in the state of Nebraska. That legal recognition (granted as a result of the campaign in which Raul participated) has improved life for many immigrants in our state to date. He seized the opportunities UNO gave him, graduating Magna cum Laude and completing the University Honors Program curriculum too, placing first in the Maverick Business Plan competition and earning recognition as a semi-finalist in the Clinton Global Initiative University Resolution Venture. Raul worked throughout his time at the University to enable others to have access to education: he co-founded an open-source test prep service, enabling access to SAT and ACT prep skills for more students. Most recently, his CSPrep.org site and service connects competitive programmers as they share technological skills and development globally. Raul’s startups have over a thousand users and democratize access to information in collaborative partnerships encouraging educational development.

Others have recognized Raul’s value as an idea maker and committed citizen: he worked for ConAgra following his graduation and now works for Deloitte as a senior consultant for Internal Audit in the Technology and Media space. His employer has already recognized his contributions with several Outstanding Performance Awards and supports his decision to return to graduate school and further his education. Raul hopes to earn his MBA so as to be able to further his own goals to help others increase their educational opportunities too; with interviews scheduled with Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate Business School, and the Chicago Booth School of Business, he aims to excel. He credits a personal mentor’s belief in him and encouragement for the efforts he has made.

His finalist standing with the Soros underscores what UNO already knows: Raul is a doer. The Soros Fellowship honors immigrants and children of immigrants specifically, investing in their graduate education in recognition of awardees being change-makers for the future of American society. Raul reached out to UNO’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships when he learned of his finalist status, and worked through application details and a mock interview with campus faculty (Dean John Bartle, Dr. Shannon Cummins, Dr. Matt Tracy, and Dr. Dan Hawkins). All of them were impressed with Raul’s professionalism and understatement. Professor Cummins said: “I knew of Raul from his involvement with a CBA Entrepreneurship Pitch contest, where his team took first place. But it was amazing to see his growth since college. Experiences at UNO were a springboard for him—to a career at a Big 4 accounting firm, entrepreneurial ventures, and becoming not just a well-rounded individual, but one with aspirations to benefit the world around him. Raul represents the best of UNO—a first generation college student pursuing his passion, trying new things, and seeking out opportunities to grow before and after graduation.”

Raul will find out next month the status of his Soros Fellowship application and his applications to different graduate schools. And we have a feeling we will be reading more stories about Raul and all the achievements yet to come in this young Maverick’s already impressive career.