This immigrant is helping people in his community succeed in his new country too. DP
FCC student encourages those from his homeland to pursue higher education
by Margarita Raycheva | Staff Writer
Gazette.net: When he first arrived in the United States six years ago, Aung Min had one ambition — to continue his higher education and earn a degree as a civil engineer.
But as he struggled to settle down in Frederick County and start from scratch, he was quickly absorbed in the demands of his new life.
He was working, earning money, and making a new home far from the one he had left in the Chin state of Myanmar.
If it wasn’t for the Chin community, he might have forgotten about his unfinished college degree. ‘‘The Chin people encouraged me to go back to school,” Min said. ‘‘I quit my job, and now I am a full-time student at [Frederick Community College].”
Min is taking general studies courses, and hopes to back them up later with a four-year degree in civil engineering.
He does not regret his choice, and has become involved in local and nationwide efforts to make higher education more accessible to refugees from the Chin ethnic and religious minority in the country previously known as Burma.
Min is helping to host a special conference encouraging Chin refugees and immigrants living in the Frederick County to complete higher education in the United States.
Through workshops, seminars and lectures, the event will go over financial aid, scholarships and college applications, introduce the benefits of earning a higher education, and direct potential students to classes that teach English as a second language.
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