Graduating seniors escaped the Taliban, endured painful losses, overcame obstacles, earned national honors at the University of Richmond
May 6, 2009
Muska Assad of Kabul, Afghanistan, Initiative to Educate Afghan Women Scholar
Leaving home and country to attend college in another country is never easy, but for Muska Assad, a double major in political science and international studies, the decision required personal and political courage.
At age 11, she and her family fled to neighboring Pakistan to escape the Taliban regime. In 2005, she left Afghanistan again to attend Richmond through the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women (IEAW). The program places qualified Afghan women, who rarely have any opportunity for higher education, in American colleges and universities. Assad was one of only 22 girls accepted into the program the year she applied.
During her time at Richmond, she has been a mentor to two subsequent IEAW students here at Richmond, and during summers, she returned home to work as a Department of Justice intern at the U.S. Embassy. IEAW requires its scholars to return to Afghanistan after graduation. Assad hopes to work for the country's Ministry of Justice or Women's Affairs.
Adrian Bitton, Richmond, Va., Orphan at 10
School was always a safe haven for Bitton, a rhetoric and communications and leadership studies double major, who was only 10 when her mother died. For the next eight years, Bitton lived with various relatives and friends.
"School was always a place of stability for me, given my unstable home life," she said. "And I fortunately had really good mentors who encouraged me to go to college." Bitton's mother had emphasized the importance of education while herself juggling the responsibilities of work, family and school.
Bitton knew she would be on her own after turning 18 and said her financial aid counselor at the university eased the transition to college and minimized her worries about being able to pay.
"I ended up going to the college that I wanted, without worrying about money," she said. Bitton worked each semester and summers to help support herself, while making dean's list most of the time and performing with the university's synchronized swimming team. She plans to apply to graduate schools in the fall.
Six Fulbright grant recipients heading to Bangladesh, Peru, Spain, Indonesia, Taiwan
Six graduating seniors have received Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship grants to teach and study in other countries: Lauren Grewe, an English and French double major from Tulsa, Okla. (Bangladesh); political science major Kate Simma of Richardson, Texas, (Peru); Kyle Bell, a history and Spanish double major from Wyomissing, Pa. (Spain); Aaron Daugherty, a biology major from Oregon City, Ore. (Indonesia); history major Jill Eisenberg of Lexington, Mass. (Taiwan); and John Calhoun, a philosophy major from the Bronx, N.Y. (Taiwan).
The Fulbright Program, established in 1946, is named after the late Sen. J. William Fulbright, who introduced a bill in Congress to create a program "promoting international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture and science."
Dan Petty of Pennington, N.J., best college newspaper online editor, decathlete
Petty recently won first place for best overall college newspaper Web site from the Student Society of News Design. An aspiring journalist, Petty will be a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund intern at the Denver Post in Denver, Colo., this summer. As the first online editor of Richmond's student newspaper, The Collegian, Petty spearheaded redesign of its Web site and immediate coverage of breaking news and sports in stories and photos.
During four years at Richmond, Petty held internships with The Associated Press in Richmond and the Pennington (N.J.) Press, won the Virginia SPJ,SDX Educational Foundation scholarship, and ran varsity cross-country and track, all while making the dean's list most semesters.
Before taking his last exam as an undergraduate, Petty, a biology and journalism double major, traveled to Charlotte, N.C., to compete in the Atlantic 10 Track and Field Championships, his first time in the decathlon. Petty placed 10th overall after winning the 1,500-meter run.