HS Student Sofiya Idris Fulbright Semifinalist

Majoring in both Health Studies and Society, Ethics, and Human Behavior, and minoring in Education and Society, Sofiya Idris hopes to travel to Kenya with a grant from the Fulbright Program. Fulbright grants, which are competitive and merit-based, are offered in 155 countries. Sofiya hopes to travel to Kenya, where her family lived for four years after fleeing the war in Somalia. Sofiya believes it would "be a great honor to give back to a country where [her] family sought refuge during one of the most catastrophic times of their life." Sofiya has applied for an English Teaching Assistantship (ETA). She is well-prepared for this competitive grant, with experience as a program instructor with the East African Community Services Summer Learning Program; as a tutor with both College Nannies and Tutors, and the Youth Tutoring Program; and a volunteer with the Somali Health Board. Sofiya considers the ETA a first step toward her future, in which she will "fulfill [her] passion for teaching and a career in service." After returning from Kenya, Sofiya says she plans to complete "a Master’s in Psychology and work as a family and child counselor. After this, I want to open a center that provides Muslims mental health services while also incorporating religious knowledge. Being in Kenya will allow me to see the experiences people from refugee and migrants backgrounds experience and will help me understand and empathize with the population I want to work with." Please join us in congratulating Sofiya for reaching the semi-finalist stage of the Fulbright consideration process.