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Workwoha Abebe remembers the moment when she thought her college dreams were slipping away.
After enduring a long walk across the desert to flee her home country of Ethiopia and moving to the United States, she was excelling at Community Academy of Science & Health and looking forward to college. But once she filled out her college applications, she learned that she might not be able to afford it. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to college – everything was dark all of a sudden,’ she recalls. “But then [ACCESS advisor] Sabina was like, ‘Take it easy, everything will be fine. I’m going to help you with this.’“ Workwoha’s advisor, Sabina Yesmin, helped her apply for and ultimately receive a Dependency Override, which takes into account the fact that she supports herself, working more than 20 hours a week to pay for her expenses, including food, rent, and utilities. Recently Workwoha received her award letter from UMass Boston and learned that she had received the aid she needed to be able to enroll in the fall. Workwoha says she would not be going to UMass Boston without her advisor’s encouragement and guidance. “All the time she was like, you can, you will,” she explains. She contacted her advisor recently to share the good news and concluded, “I wanted to say thank you very much for your countless help and advice. I know we went through a lot of work, but at the end, it paid off.” Her advisor Sabina says, “I can't wait to see her five to ten years down the road and things she accomplishes and achieves.” Neither can we. |
