A once in a life time experience!

Last year, I participated in the Branchout program. I was able to meet people from unique cultural backgrounds and students with different learning needs. During my experience, I built strong relationships with my mentees. One of these mentees was a 21 year old student who had recently moved to America from Afganistan. Despite his social status, he was brilliant, constantly trying to learn how to read English and develop his linguistics. One day, we had a conversation about what we wanted to do in the future. I explained my aspirations to become a lawyer. When he explained his goals, I was astounded. Prior to moving to the US, he was in medical school in order to become a field doctor, to save the lives of fighters on the frontlines. However, conflict, violence, and terror displaced him out of his home country. His family traveled the world, searching for a place to live, an asylum. They found themselves in Falls Church Virginia. His history was amazing. I had never met anyone with such motivation or anyone who had faced such great hardship. The branchout program gave me a once in a lifetime experience to expand my horizons.