First generation, immigrant and refugee students at Valley High School in West Des Moines have an opportunity for a scholarship to go to college through a student-led fundraising effort.
West Des Moines senior Nyibol Chol is part of the Refugee and Immigrant Student Embassy (RISE) that was founded in 2022 at the high school. She was recently recognized by the ACLU of Iowa for her work fundraising $15,000 last year for the scholarship.
Chol talked to IPR's Meghan McKinney on Morning Edition Friday about the scholarship and being an immigrant student who is set to be a first-generation college student.
McKinney: Tell me about how you got involved with RISE.
Chol: I think it was sophomore year. They had, our school yearly has an activities, it's during lunch, they have an activities fair every year. And I saw that RISE had their booth, and I just checked it out, because I'm an immigrant, I want to see what other groups at Valley. And seeing like there was a place where I can be as an immigrant actually made me a little happy, because I've always hidden my identity as an immigrant. Because I was always worried and I was usually bullied as a kid being an immigrant, even though I went to one of the most diverse schools in my district. But seeing RISE and seeing that it exists actually helped me as a person.
McKinney: How does the RISE scholarship support immigrant and refugee students?
Chol: The RISE scholarship supports immigrant and refugee students by showing them that they have a chance of college and many, from what I've seen, what, from what I've experienced, as immigrant, refugee students, there's certain financial factors that stops you from attending a school, and I think the right scholarships removes those roadblocks.
McKinney: How would you describe how what's going on in the world right now, in our country, affecting immigrant and refugee students?
Chol: For me, personally, I've known people who have either self-deported and gone back home. I've known people who moved away to a way more populous place, rather than Iowa, for safety. I've known people who've changed their college plans. And I think it's just saddening because there's kids that giving up their dreams. There are parents who are wanting more for their kids, and they know their kids want to do more, but they can't do more because it's stopping them. It's stopping kids from being kids. It's stopping kids from expecting more for themselves, from their peers. It's making kids seeing less of themselves rather than more of themselves and what more they expect. And I feel like that affecting not only students, but also like teachers and administrators, it's keeping everyone up at night.
McKinney: How do you deal with those emotions, especially as you prepare to go to college?
Chol: I think for me, most of the time is, I'm preparing myself, not only emotionally, but also mentally, for college. Because college everyone comes from a different background. I'm from Iowa. I'm in Des Moines. Everyone has different political opinions. Everyone has different perspectives. But once I get to college, especially selective colleges, I meet new perspectives I never met before. Because Iowa, it's pretty range on income. It's pretty range on race. It's pretty range on religion stuff. But once I get into college, I'm forced to this new environment where that's time that like little population of people, that little like demographic is multiplied by 10, like 10,000. And I'm hoping as I prepare myself for college, I'm more open-minded and understand why they have these opinions, or why they act upon certain things.
McKinney: And tell me about your plans after graduation. What are you hoping to do in college?
Chol: If I get into one of my top schools, I'll probably go into political science and education. And if I [get] into one of those schools, I've been applying to, Princeton, they're service oriented, I hope to work with the local schools around Princeton and see how they operate.
