Apollo High School 2020 graduate Mariama Mohamed can’t stop smiling. She has just graduated from high school after immigrating to the United States from Somalia three and a half years ago. She’s justifiably proud of her achievement. Yet, finding herself and her voice along the way, she feels, is her greatest accomplishment. As a shy … 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
Ayan Omar has had quite a journey to her language arts classroom at Tech High School. Omar, born in Somalia, came to the United States in 1993 as a refugee and started her public education in Georgia. “My life started here in public education,” she says. “One of the reasons I became a teacher was … Read more
In the fall of 2014, Tammy Wilson became the new principal at Discovery Community School in St. Cloud, Minnesota and had plenty on her “to-do” list. Writing a children’s book wasn’t on it – until one day she helped out in the school media center. “The idea for the book came out of a need,” … Read more