By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN

East Oregonian

HERMISTON — When Marvin Hozi walks across the stage to receive his diploma, he knows exactly where his next steps will lead.

Hozi, one of 10 Hermiston High School valedictorians this year and an Iraqi by birth, has already staked the next two stops in his academic career.

The future computer science major has plans to attend George Fox University in Newberg, then pursue a master's degree at Stanford. Both universities have promised him full scholarships.

Before rising to the top of Hermiston's Class of 2018, Hozi endured challenges many students can't imagine.

"I lived in Baghdad (Iraq) from birth to 2006," he said. When he was six, his family fled from the violence and war in his home country to Jordan, and about a year later came to the United States as refugees. From New York they moved to California, and then to Oregon.

Some of his relatives on his mother's side still live in Iraq, but Hozi said he has not returned since leaving, due to violence still plaguing the region.

"I do want to go back and visit, once things improve," he said.

When he started fifth grade in Hermiston, no one in his family spoke English. In an effort to support his family, Hozi began learning.

"I started by listening to music, watching movies, listening to how people talk," he said.

He still speaks Arabic at home with his parents — his father owns a jewelry business and his mother does embroidery work.

The hard work he put in as a student in Hermiston paid off when Hozi started applying to colleges — but it led to a dilemma as well. No matter where he decided to attend college, Hozi thought he would have to turn down a full scholarship.

He applied to George Fox University and decided while he was at it, he would try his luck and apply to prestigious Stanford University, too.

"I got the news about George Fox first," he said. And with an offer to attend the school on a full scholarship, it initially seemed like it would be an easy choice. But he soon learned that he had not only been accepted to Stanford, but had received a full-ride from the California school as well.

"It was hard for me to choose," he said.

Hozi said Palo Alto's distance from his family was a deterrent, so he decided to stay in Oregon for undergraduate studies. But he wasn't quite ready to give up Stanford.

"I asked if there was any way Stanford could retain that (full scholarship) for a master's degree," he said.

He said the university told him that if he signed a binding contract to attend the school in four years, they would allow him to use the scholarship for a master's in computer science. He'll start at Stanford immediately upon completion of his bachelor's degree.

His hobbies range from studying languages — he speaks French, German, Arabic and English, and is now learning Croatian — to photography and soccer. One of his favorite pasttimes is cryptography, which involves solving puzzles and cracking codes.

Marvin Hozi wears a ring his father, a jeweler, made for him after Hozi earned his first 4.0 at Hermiston High. Hoziplans to study computer science at George Fox University in Newberg, Ore., and then earn his masters at Stanford, where he has a full scholarship waiting for him. (Kathy Aney/The East Oregonian via AP)

That has fed his interest in computers and a potential career in cybersecurity.

He has parlayed his skills into part-time job with the Hermiston School District IT department, and will work this summer as a cybersecurity analyst at Amazon.

His teacher and IT colleague, Robert Theriault, said he has been impressed by Hozi's self-motivation and inquisitive nature, both as a colleague and as a student in his web development classes.

"We can point him in a direction, and he'll keep researching it, sometimes to a fault," Theriault said.

Hozi hopes to eventually obtain a doctorate in computer science. For now, he'll keep focusing on his goals, and building on the skills he's honed since he was young.

From the East Oregonian via Associated Press