Hudda Ibrahim started at St. Cloud Technical and Community College in 2007, six months after arriving in the United States.
A refugee from Somalia, she felt unprepared and disoriented on campus. Still, after she earned her master's degree last summer, there was nowhere else she wanted to be. As an instructor, adviser and a mentor to college-bound Somali girls, Ibrahim has come full circle in helping immigrant students find their stride.
"I have been there and done it so I understand these students right away," said Ibrahim.
Ibrahim came to the U.S. after Kenya and Ethiopia, where, in a remote village without a health clinic, she saw her mother die during childbirth.
As a newcomer to campus, she was overwhelmed, caught "between two worlds." Her English needed work. She wasn't sure how to go about applying for financial aid or which courses to take. And, grasping for a sense of direction in her adopted land, she found herself changing her major a couple of times, chasing the dreams of friends who had lived in America longer.
"It's so hard for students like me to say, 'I came to this country yesterday, and today I know exactly what I want to do,' " she said.
She was headed for a career in nursing, but her heart was in politics and writing. She joined the student senate. She carried a journal with her everywhere. After transferring to the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, she pursued a double major in English and peace studies.
In Ronald Pagnucco's class on political violence, Ibrahim was a top student — effortlessly, he thought. Only later did she confide in him that she read some of the dense scientific texts three times, pausing again and again to look up words in the dictionary.
