See how Sabiha Shaik’s love of storytelling and using Microsoft Word to draft childhood tales helped her find her place in the world of technology.
Sabiha Shaik: Growing with Microsoft WordSee how Sabiha Shaik’s love of storytelling with Microsoft Word helped her find her place in the world of technology with the Microsoft 365 Heroes of Productivity series.
“I’ve been able to grow with Word, where I’ve been using it for creative purposes but also… for my academic purposes.” – Sabiha Shaik
Sabiha’s love for technology began when she first used Microsoft Word as a writing tool in third grade. As a child, Sabiha was passionate about stories: telling stories, reading stories, watching movies, and creating her own stories. Even as a third grader, Sabiha recognized how much more efficient it was for her to use Word as a creative writing application, a new canvas on which she could express her creativity.
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“It just seemed really convenient to put all of my thoughts on a Word document because previously I used to create these little books… just having a virtual document where I could keep adding whatever I was creating for the story no matter how long the pages were, I could just keep adding day after day.” – Sabiha Shaik
Little did Sabiha know, this was only the beginning of her journey with technology and with Microsoft, one that would take her from her home in the UAE across the world to the United States. During her first year at university, Sabiha saw a booth for the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships, where students compete in events involving Word, Excel, and PowerPoint events against others from around the globe and decided to sign up. After making it through numerous rounds, Sabiha was chosen to represent the UAE in the finals in Anaheim, CA.
“Having the opportunity to compete locally, and then regionally, and then get to represent UAE in California really made me feel like I belong in technology.” – Sabiha Shaik
Sabiha is now a Master’s in Computer Science and Engineering student at the University at Buffalo, where she specializes in AI and security. She continues to use Word and other Microsoft 365 products in her academic pursuits, leveraging the collaborative features in the latest versions of Word to work on group projects with her classmates. Also, by linking Word with OneDrive, Sabiha can summarize and access all her learnings in a single, secure place.
“When I’m in class I usually just take down notes on paper. So, I really like to come back and summarize all of that in a Word document so that I have it with me and I can sync it with my OneDrive and just have it on every device.” – Sabiha Shaik
While Sabiha is spending much of her time using Microsoft 365 for her studies nowadays, she hasn’t forgotten what brought her to use Word in the first place. She continues to write stories to this day and uses Word to share them with her family and friends back home.
“I’m not really a writer, but I do like to write on the side. So just having the ability to store whatever drafts I write in a secure place to go back to and share with others. I think that’s what got me interested in Word.” – Sabiha Shaik
To read more stories of people making the most of their 365, like Sabiha, check out the Microsoft 365 Stories page.
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