Two weeks ago I was fortunate to travel to Jordan, which is simply incredible in the springtime. While there, I made sure to reach out to King's and through the Development Director Davies Bisset, meet with our Opportunity Fund Scholar, Ibrahim.
We had the most interesting conversation for well over an hour! I learned many new things about him, including about his family, some of his trials as a refugee through 2 wars (during which time he had to stop going to school) and 3 countries, and how he got to King's in the first place.
We've mentioned previously that despite his own circumstances, Ibrahim had volunteered at a charity focused on refugee families starting at about age 14. After working there for some time, a mentor asked if he would be interested in starting school again. So Ibrahim researched all the public high schools in Amman, and brought back his research to the mentor. She said to him "Thanks, but I was thinking BIGGER for you. Take a look at King's Academy."
Even in retelling the story, he got this look of wonder on his face like "Not in a million years..." But he went back online, found that King's has an online application... and got accepted!
Before that moment, I never knew that Ibrahim got accepted by King's on his own merits. It says a lot about the ethos of the school (and its founder) that its system was built to identify exceptional young people like Ibrahim, from all backgrounds.
I also learned that Ibrahim has made a podcast about his experience. It's on a Soundcloud account of the Collateral Repair Project, which is the non-profit where Ibrahim works. It's 51-minutes long, so grab a cup and get to know our scholar, Ibrahim.
https://soundcloud.com/collateralrepairpodcast/ episode-1-education
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