meet mahder
Mahder immigrated from Ethiopia to the US in 2020. She wanted to start college but needed her green card before enrolling. At that time, immigration offices were closed due to Covid, and the green card process was taking longer than anticipated.
Additionally, Mahder found it hard to navigate the US education system, which was substantially different from the one she was used to in Ethiopia.
She started her education journey with ESL classes. That’s where she met one of our Program Managers, Hans, who was giving a workshop about FASFA. Unfortunately, she wasn’t eligible for FASFA at that time since her green card wasn’t processed yet. Without her green card, she was considered an international student, and tuition was too expensive.
However, Hans helped her navigate the system and connected Mahder with YearUp, a job training program that didn’t require her to have a green card. Through YearUp, she had the opportunity to intern at the Port of Seattle, where she learned more about AI and Machine Learning and realized that was the career path she wanted to take.
After that experience, and once her green card was processed, Mahder enrolled at Seattle Central College to pursue an associate's degree in Computer Science.
During her time at Central, NWEdA continued supporting Mahder in different ways. She received bus tickets and a Chromebook, as she didn’t have a laptop when she started. NWEdA also connected her with a math tutor and later with students in Computer Science and people who work as Software Engineers. Mahder also shared that during this time, Hans gave her the confidence to enroll in 400 classes, helped her apply and receive financial aid, and get scholarships.
Mahder will receive her Associate Degree at the end of this Spring quarter. After that, she plans to transfer to a 4-year university and get a Bachelor's in Machine Learning or Data Science. She has already been accepted to Seattle U and Western Washington University, and is waiting for a response from UW Bothell.
In the future, Mahder wants to work in a government office helping the community through AI, similar to her internship at the Port of Seattle.
When asked about her biggest accomplishment, Mahder shared: “Getting my associates would be good. It was teamwork, but I'm proud to have people around me helping me to actually be the person that I want to be.”
“I remember meeting Mahder during my drop in hours at my partnersite Seattle Central. In my time as her Education Advocate, I have seen the resilience and growth mindset that Mahder has adopted in her education journey. There were many times where barriers stood in the way of accessing education but Mahder knew that we would find a way. After two years working together and modeling how to navigate these systems, Mahder applied as a work study at the transition center at SCC where she started to help other students on financial aid applications. Mahder truly represents the journey many of our students go through. I am so happy I have been able to witness her journey from ESL to AS and now a Bachelor’s degree!”
