By Nick El Hajj, Des Moines Register
Nyibol Chol measures her senior year not in her own successes, but in how many classmates she can help reach theirs.
The 18-year-old Valley High School senior helped lead a student effort to raise about $15,000 so immigrant and refugee classmates can afford college or trade school, a project she says is rooted in the uncertainty she once felt arriving in Iowa as a child.
“For me, it’s because I know I would have benefited and someone else will benefit from this too,” Chol said. “You never know if that few thousand dollars is stopping someone from getting a bachelor’s degree or stopping them from going to their dream school.”
Chol is president and financial lead of RISE, the Refugee and Immigrant Student Embassy at Valley High School in West Des Moines, a club that connects and supports immigrant and refugee students.
The club’s scholarship fund began as a project in the gifted and talented program, then grew into a permanent, student-managed scholarship open to students regardless of immigration status.Â
Chol’s goal this year is to double what has already been raised so three students can benefit.
Her connection to the work is personal, she said.Â
Chol, who was born in a village in Kenya, came to the United States in 2013 at 6 years old with her mother and sister after her father sponsored their move. She said adjusting to a new school system took years.
“It was really weird, and I didn’t get accustomed to it until like second or third grade. But I think that experience really pushed me for a better accommodation for students like me,” she said.
Her parents’ histories also shape her outlook.Â
Chol said her father was one of the Lost Boys of South Sudan, a term used for thousands of boys displaced during civil war who walked across East Africa to refugee camps to escape violence. He later received asylum in the United States and eventually settled in Iowa. Her mother also spent time in refugee camps after fleeing violence in South Sudan before the family reunited in the United States.
Understanding her parents’ journies, she said, influences how she views opportunity and responsibility.
“Knowing my parents went through that is something that really pushes me a lot,” she said. “Hence why when we read the applications, we don’t look at the documentation. That doesn’t matter.”
Her efforts recently drew recognition when she received the Robert Mannheimer Youth Advocacy Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, an annual honor recognizing young people who show leadership in civil liberties and community advocacy.Â
Chol said the attention surprised her and that she hopes it ultimately brings more visibility to the fund itself.
“I was really shocked. I didn’t think I would win, because I know a lot of great people who do the same as me,” she said. “I was really happy, not for me, but also for my peers.”
Mark Stringer, executive director of the ACLU of Iowa, said Chol’s efforts stood out in “a time when too often the discourse is about how we’re different and not about how we’re alike”
“Her work required so much dedication. It wasn’t something that she was just adding to,” he said. “She’s really acknowledging the dignity of the refugee, the immigrant, the person that she was when she came here.”
After graduation, Chol said she plans to study education and political science and hopes to attend law school. “My biggest dream job? Probably Secretary of Education,” she said.
“There’s no too young, there’s no too old. There’s always a time to change the world or change your community,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you are or how much money you have. It’s never too late, or never too early, to start anything.”
Information about the RISE program, including flyers and donation links, is available through the student organization’s online page.
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