PORTLAND, Ore. -- Sam Biyazin was born and raised in Ethiopia. She says when she was four or five years old, an accident caused her to lose her sight, eventually leading to total blindness.
And without her sight, she was told she couldn't study math in school.
In 2013, Biyazin traveled to the United States to speak in front of the United Nations on behalf of the Africa Youth with Disabilities Network. Instead of going back home, she stayed here in the U.S. She would eventually start school at Portland State University and pursue a degree in accounting.
For years, Sam was told she wouldn't be successful because of her blindness.
"'How can you get a job?' They told me that. Other people around me, 'Oh wow, you need to think because, you might graduate but it might be really hard to get a job'," Biyazin said.
So she proved them wrong and will be the first blind person to graduate from PSU's School of Business Accounting program. She'll also give the commencement speech this Saturday at PSU's graduation ceremony.
She'll move to Virginia later this month and begin working at her dream job for the public accounting firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.