Four New American Graduates

Four young women graduated recently from Lutheran High School South. They were supported by scholarships funded by the Lutheran Foundation and individual donors and congregations who provided contributions to CFNA. One of the students, Mary Passawe, wrote the following about herself and her experiences:

I was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa. During the civil war in Sierra Leone my family and I escaped by coming to the United States without my father. On August 25, 2005 we finally arrived in St.Louis, Missouri. Two to three months later I started going to Scruggs Middle School. Although it was a public school, I had a hard time fitting in because the kids there would make fun of me, calling me names, calling me Stinky Mary just because I'm African.

That same year I transferred to Word Of Life Lutheran School and got a scholarship. I liked it there; the kids treated me as an equal and I didn't feel different among them. After two years I went to Lutheran High School South because I wanted to learn more about Jesus and find out “who is this man?” My mother is a Muslim and doesn't believe that God has a son.

In August I will be attending Missouri Baptist University, studying to become an OB/GYN Nurse. I love to read, play volleyball and help others, Also I love the Miami Heat.

Goka Member-Meneh, from Nigeria, will be studying at Concordia University Chicago, where she also hopes to run track. Petra Oresecanin, originally from Croatia, will be attending Saint Louis University and studying accounting; SLU offered her a substantial scholarship. Eve Okine, born in Ghana, received a CFNA scholarship her senior year; she has been accepted into the pre-med program at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

These four young women are making a difference, both in the St. Louis New American community, at the Lutheran schools they have attended, and now at the colleges they will attend in the fall.