Vermont College helps African, Vietnamese and Bosnian refugees

BURLINGTON, Vt.—When his family landed in Vermont three years ago, Rwandan refugee Jean-Luc Dushime didn't speak English.

Now, he's in college -- on a full scholarship -- and has his sights set on graduate school.

"Champlain College was the only school that gave me a full scholarship and was the only school interested to know me as a person," the 27-year-old sophomore said.

Moved by a documentary on refugees who fled to the United States, college President David Finney established the scholarship program to help them get a start in their new life without having to worry about the $24,000 annual tuition. College officials say it's the only program of its kind in the nation.

"Given what they faced when they arrived, which is basically about eight months of support and a handshake, and the tremendous difficulties that I realized they must be experiencing and acculturating to a society in some ways couldn't be more foreign, I thought that Champlain could play a role," Finney said.

In its first year in 2006, the New American Student Scholarship program helped 13 students. Now, about 16 students -- from Vietnam, Bosnia and Sudan, among other places -- receive a range of scholarships based on need.

But the small private college benefits, too, with the refugees enriching the school.

"If you're the student from the (Northeast) Kingdom or suburban Connecticut, sitting in a class next to this person, here's a viewpoint that's going to be a little different. And in a classroom, that's what it's all about: hearing things that you hadn't ever thought of," Finney said.

Like Dushime's long journey.

His family fled the Rwandan genocide in 1994. As a teenager, he made his way 4,000 miles across the Congo to escape the violence. He attended school in Africa, earning a college degree in journalism and speaks four languages.

But he says the violence, discrimination and constant moving kept him from thinking much about his future.

He just longed for peace.

"I wanted a place where I can be stable, because all those years I was moving around, I never think about the future, because there's nothing to think about," he said. "You don't know if you're going to wake up in the morning."

Now, he snowboards and goes mountain biking.

He's studying public relations and plans to go to graduate school. He hopes to study abroad in New Zealand next year.

Language is still a struggle. Still mastering English, he takes longer to write papers and read books and gets frustrated that he can't express himself as well as he could in French. But he says that three years ago, he couldn't even ask for directions.

Now, he helps other Africans in the community as a translator, encouraging them to take part in their new culture, and to get an education.

"It's a good thing for us to have an education," he said of he and his older brother, also a Champlain student. "So we go back someday and be able to impact whole country or whole continent."

Maria Thach, who came to Vermont from Vietnam at age 4, also is the first in her family to go to college. She's studying criminal justice.

"My parents are so proud," she said. "They always had those great plans for my brothers and sisters to excel well in school."

Even though she's lived in Vermont most of her life, the Burlington High School graduate says she bonded with the other refugee students.

"We face stereotypes and issues in our daily lives that are similar. We got to know each other pretty well as individuals, and learning from different cultures is key," she said.

And like Dushime, and Hau Le, a graphic design and multimedia student from Vietnam, they struggle balancing family and school pressures.

"I grew up learning Vietnamese and English at the same time," said Le. "So there was that struggle, and fighting back and forth. My parents, like `Speak Vietnamese when you're in the house.' At school, it's like, 'Speak English here,'" he said.

The school is also learning how to cope.

The students came with needs that the school probably should have anticipated, but didn't, Finney said.

Champlain will likely add language support for some students and has established an Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion to counsel them. Its director, Angela Batista, says she spends a lot of time talking with students about their struggles.

Coming from Africa, "you grow up in a family, you're part of a family," said Dushime. "You move to this country, they teach you to be an individual. That goes against everything you believed in, culturally. It's a struggle."

He says now his mother understands that he needs space to think and act as an individual.

He's adamant that his younger siblings go to college. They don't have a choice, he says.

Especially considering how far they've come.

"I can talk about what I want to do in the future. I say, 'I'm going back to school and this is what I'm going to do in the community, and I'm going to go grad school.' And my mom is so proud. And she is so happy because now what she dream for she is seeing."

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Champlain College: http://www.champlain.edu