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Shekh Arefen


Greetings! My name is Shekh Arefen. My first name is pronounced like “Shrek” but without the “r”. I’m a Computer Engineering major and a junior currently at UCF. I graduated from Suncoast Community High School with the International Baccalaureate Diploma and like most students had no idea what I wanted to major in at first. Thanks to my dad’s advice, I decided to give Computer Engineering a shot and haven’t regretted it since. By taking a specific set of upper level engineering courses, I decided to pursue the field of embedded systems.

My favorite class at UCF so far has been Digital Systems. It was the very first upper level engineering course that I was introduced to relating to my major and I loved it. The class taught me all the fundamentals of computer engineering and it excites me to move on deeper into my major. My favorite professor at UCF is Arup Guha. He was my Computer Science 1/Discrete Structures professor and is probably one of the smartest men I’ve ever known.

My hobbies consist of playing basketball, hanging out with my roommates, watching crime dramas, and volunteering. In high school, I used to volunteer almost daily for about three years until I graduated. My volunteer activities ranged from helping out at multiple nursing homes to tutoring elementary school kids. Once high school finished and I came to UCF, I didn’t have many opportunities for volunteering like I did back home. That changed when I came across a chance to volunteer for UCF’s STEM day back in Spring 2015. From that point on, I decided to get involved with the STEM Ambassador program so I could continue volunteering and encouraging the youth to pursue any STEM related career they desire. For all the STEM students here at UCF, keep on moving forward and always give it your all.