So many District 742 students are off to big things this fall after last spring’s graduation, and Khadar Abdi, now a Tech High School alumnus, is one of them. Abdi’s laser focus through his years at Tech secured him the top ranked spot in his high school class. Right away in ninth-grade, Abdi made a … Read more
Nantha Viswanathan, volunteer and facilities specialist for St. Cloud Area School District, came to the United States 35 years ago from Malaysia. As a child, he remembers playing soccer to pass the time. Growing into adulthood, however, his journey brought him to Minnesota to attend St. Cloud State University where he earned his degree in … Read more
This Tech High School senior, Fiona Lee, is ready to go anywhere after graduation. “Anywhere in Africa, Asia or South America– places where people would be too scared to go. That’s where I want to go.” Lee grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota. She describes her childhood as being “not very diverse.” When she moved to the … Read more
“If you can’t help someone, then don’t hurt [hinder] them,” says Ahmed Abdi, lead bilingual communication support specialist (BCSS) at St. Cloud Area School District 742. It is a motto that Abdi has lived by, a philosophy instilled in him by his father. Abdi was born in Somalia but grew up in Kenya due to … Read more
Her journey home has been a long one. It began in Somalia with her parents and six siblings. She does not have many memories of that early life, but remembers life was good until civil war broke out when she was three years old. Her parents fled with their family to a refugee camp in … Read more