Humans Of Montview: Tegra Kongolo

This is Tegra Kongolo, a junior at Montview, talking about his story and how it has changed him. Currently, Tegra is a part of the Student Council, Young Men of Purpose, and the basketball team. He also holds pretty much all A’s and little missing assignments. He is seen as a leader and a caring person in our Montview community. His story starts off in the Democratic Republic of Congo and how his life changed early on when he moved to the United States.

I wanted to know more and learn about Tegras experience so I interviewed him to find out more about his insider look; his fears, strengths, weaknesses, sacrifices, successes, and goals. It goes to show that Tegra has made a very successful strive from when he first moved to the United States, when he was only in elementary school. Obviously he had fears starting off in a new place and not even knowing the language. He said, “My biggest fear was, you know, learning a new language and trying to meet new people.” I then asked if this ever held him back, he responded, “I feel like it held me back like I probably missed meeting the love of my life cuz I was so scared so like yeah my fear did hold me back I wish I could go back in time and just you know be more courageous confident you know.”

He talked to me about the journey it was to go through, and the challenges along the way. I wanted to ask about his sacrifices and the type of decisions he made to get to where he is today. Tegra let me know that, “A big sacrifice that I made was staying up all night doing Duolingo to learn English it was just a big sacrifice wake up with zero sleep, but I mean it got me to where I am today so it brings me happiness I feel like it was definitely worth it.” I couldn’t imagine what it was like to have to do this at the age of 10, knowing that at 17 I’m still trying to learn Spanish after 3 years of classes.

A big thing that most people care about is someone’s drive and motivation behind the struggles they go through. Although it was also great to know Tegras strengths and weaknesses through his journey, he said “Again I feel like my weakness was not being confident, and not being courageous, but I feel like my strength was my sheer determination.” This led me to follow up to get to know what motivated him, he shared saying, “To be honest what really motivated me was you know just being successful, like no way I moved all the way over here to not be successful, really just a rags to riches story.”

Finishing up High school Tegra hopes to attend Columbia University. As life goes on a lot of people like to follow a plan or at least have hopes for their future life. I was curious to know what Tegra had planned for his future after college. He told me, “What I hope to accomplish is you know generational wealth. I want the people after me to be wealthy just like me and not have to put in as much work as I did.” Finally Tegra ended the interview off with, “Where I see myself in 5 years is owning three businesses no no no hold on that’s a little farther. I see myself just graduating from let me see, Columbia University in New York City with my Masters in Business and then getting ready to you know, start a business that’s going to make me a multi-millionaire. I like that thank you very much sir thank you.”