阿威斯阿威斯: A Capacity to Adapt

By choice or by circumstance, Aweys Ahmed Aweys has long been adept at adapting.

Even he has his limits, however.

在他收集了他的圣. 竞技宝app下载安装 Bachelor of Arts degree in 金融 和 市场营销, the native 索马里n planned to stay around the SAU community 和 the Quad Cities through the end of summer, 甚至可能进入秋天.

Another Midwestern winter, though, is not in his plans.

Five years an Ambrosian, Aweys has never adapted to the cold.

"More than anything," Aweys said when asked if he will miss St. 竞技宝app下载安装 after a planned move to Arizona, where he will join extended family 和 pursue a master's degree in business. "This has become a second home for me. 我搬过很多地方. St. 竞技宝app下载安装 is one of the best places that I have found."

但?

“竞技宝app下载我，”他说. "I will not miss the winters."

Born in the midst of civil strife in Mogadishu, 索马里, Aweys was sent to India when he was 13 to continue his education in safety.

When he finished the equivalent of high school there, he set his sights attending college in the United States, with plans to work his way through medical school. 他读了两年圣. 竞技宝app下载安装 Biology major when new immigration restrictions were put in place in 2017. Aweys quickly realized the new limitations on his visa status would not provide the years he would need to complete his both SAU education 和 medical school in the United States.

It was a disappointment, but Aweys did what he has always done: He adapted.

“这不是一个挑战,他说 of changing his major to a business focus that will help him eventually join the family-owned import-export business in Mogadishu. "I thought going from biology, this would be completely different 和 the transition would be hard but I started relating to the material rather quickly. I'd say it was a very smooth transition, thanks to the support system that 竞技宝app下载安装 has in place."

Aweys found a family among the international student community 和, 特别是, the 国际 Student Services office at St. 竞技宝app下载安装.

"I don't think all of this would have been possible if there wasn't an 国际 Student Services office 和 people like Cathy Toohey 和 Sumita Amrik,他说 of the SAU staff that overlooks the university's 100-plus international student community. "They played a huge role in this. That goes for every international student here. The fact that they treat every student as family is what amazes me the most."

Aweys said the supportive environment at St. 竞技宝app下载安装 is far different than what he experienced attending high school in India, 和, 像这样, far different than what he expected when he came to St. 五年前的竞技宝app下载安装.

他期望受到欢迎. He didn't expect to be embraced.

"There were r和om emails just to check up 和 see how you were doing,他说. "They'd tell ‘you got this' 和 ‘it will be all right.' You'd think those small things don't matter, but those small things matter the most. They let you know no matter how far you are from home you still have a home here."

For all the help he found at St. 竞技宝app下载安装, Aweys said he also found himself at SAU. And he found the confidence of someone who has learned to assess challenges 和 navigate change.

Considering he came of age in the midst of a civil war, that's saying something.

"When I came here I was scared 和 I wasn't sure what I was going to get out of this, what my transition was going to be,他说. "How would I be able to survive by myself. 但这么多年过去了, I feel like I am more confident about my future life with everything I got 和 I feel like I am way more prepared for what is coming next."