Umar Oyg Hassan was 13 years old when he immigrated to the United States. He had been an Oromo refugee from Ethiopia living in Kenya with his younger brother when the opportunity arose to reunite with their parents in America, whom they hadn’t seen in years. The boys were on the cusp of a new life and a grand adventure in a country they had only heard of in stories and seen in pictures.
“Time wasted will never be recovered… You’re young. Go to America, get an education, come back and help your people.” These were words a Kenyan doctor said to Umar as he was preparing to leave for the U.S. Umar took these words to heart, and remembers them to this day.
Whatever came next, from that moment on Umar committed himself to not wasting a moment of the future and opportunity he had been given.
And as a first-generation immigrant entering the Minneapolis public school system with extremely limited English, many obstacles would arise.
“When I came to America and entered the sixth grade, it couldn’t get better than getting picked up by a bus at your doorstep,” Umar said. “It was the American dream. Coming from where I did, you went from nothing to something, so to you that was abundant.”
But by the time Umar entered high school, the bus would be a memory and Umar could either find his own way to travel 1.9 miles from home to school or abandon his education.
Unfortunately, transportation was just the beginning of Umar’s experience with the limitations of the public school system for refugees, immigrants and English-learners.
Since Umar grew up primarily speaking the Oromo language and Swahili, Sanford Middle School assigned him to an English Language Learners (ELL) track in the sixth grade, placing him in core courses with other students who are learning English for the first time.
Soon, Umar found himself achieving above an A+ in his courses, as he took on extra credit work and pushed himself to excel. But, despite his in-class grades, Umar found himself falling behind. He was not challenged academically. He felt he needed to be in mainstream courses.
While in just the eighth grade, Umar confronted his principal on his own. When the principal denied him access to mainstream courses, Umar took a stand. He fought for his education and insisted that it was wrong to hold him back in ELL classes, when he was ready to tackle mainstream courses and forge a successful path for his future.
Umar was still not taken seriously. The principal instead brought in an Oromo translator to convince him that ELL track was the right path. This put Umar in a difficult situation juggling between respecting elders as he was taught in his culture and fighting for what he knew was best for himself. He decided to go for the latter. For his personal quest for a more comprehensive education, he left Sanford. He enrolled in a neighboring middle school for a whole week before the principal reached out with a new arrangement: if Umar could maintain his grades, he could enroll in half ELL classes and half mainstream.
Umar accepted the deal, but he never forgot the way he was forced to struggle, advocate and fight for access to an education that would challenge him and give him the chance at a successful future.
“A recurring theme in my life and my deep passion is the quest for justice.” As a Kenyan refugee and as a young, black man living in America, Umar has struggled to understand and find justice in his personal journey.
He started to notice the cracks in the education system and society surrounding him. All this fueled a desire to give back, to improve life for others. Umar volunteered with the tutoring center at Trinity Lutheran Church, the American Swedish Institute and Books for Africa.
“I was transitioning from being able to effectively communicate and express myself and finding ways to actively engage in my community,” Umar said. “It was rejuvenating to be a part of something that was bigger than me. I think that was the first time that I had a sense of home and belonging.”
As Umar prepared for yet another transition, from high school to college, Project Success took him and classmates on tours of several major universities throughout the Midwest. With the help of a Gates Millennium scholarship, Umar chose Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Even though Macalester had great retention and graduation rates, these were not the only reasons Umar selected Macalester. It was also a place where Umar felt he could pursue a mission of social justice with the support of the Macalester community.
Along the way, Umar has seen Malcolm X as a role model. Though a controversial public figure at times, Umar respects Malcolm’s willingness to adapt and transform, to admit his own mistakes and grow – all while pursuing a progressive course of social change.
These are the traits Umar longs to exemplify today. As a senior political science and economics major at Macalester College, he has interned with the Minnesota Housing Financial Agency and the Metropolitan Economic Development Association. While Umar’s short-term goal is to find a job to pay back his family’s years of support, he hopes to eventually earn his masters and land a career where he can positively impact public policies.
“Don’t be complacent.” This is Umar’s advice to those who find themselves facing challenges along their education or career journey. “If you think you are in a position to excel, keep pushing because that’s the only way you can make a change or a difference in life.”