MRU: a hub for travel, funding, and changemakers
Many new students struggle with the decision between money, traveling, and making a difference in the world. Priyash Bista, a Mount Royal University Alumni, shares how Mount Royal University allowed him to do all three.
Priyash Bista, a 2017 Mount Royal Alumni from the Bachelor of Computer Information Systems and Entrepreneurship programs, has proven that you really can do it all. Through his time at MRU, his volunteer work, his role today as a Web Developer and scrum master at Benevity, Priyash merged his love for technology, his passion for travel, and his commitment to changemaking into an exciting and meaningful career.
While at Mount Royal, Priyash embedded himself into three programs, resulting in a unique educational background in technology, entrepreneurship, and systems thinking. When combined, Priyash enabled himself to contribute to student projects like Project STOKE, a social enterprise that empowers entrepreneurs and reduces smoke inhalation through clean burning, environmentally friendly Top Lift Up-Draft (TLUD) Quad stoves in Kenya.
In Nepal, Priyash consults a nonprofit who’s mission is to catalyze new models of biodiversity conservation and environmental learning in eastern Nepal. The Belt Project is currently building an 8,000 meter vertical university where the farmers are teachers and the villages are classrooms. These experiences have enabled him to build an impactful career as a changemaker and entrepreneur both here in Calgary and around the world.
Today, Priyash works at one of Calgary’s fastest growing organizations, Benevity, where he uses his skills as a web developer to help enable goodness through technology and giving at organizations all around the world, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and Coca-Cola.