Riyah Patel 

The COVID-19 Pandemic upended traditional education as we knew it. Schools shut down and classrooms locked their doors. Not only was time lost learning, but students missed out on the connectivity of being around friends, building relationships with teachers, and the general camaraderie of being a part of a shared and unique life experience. Nowhere was isolation and learning loss more pronounced than in refugee communities around our state. Digital exclusion, technological barriers and school disconnectedness was widespread for refugee students during the pandemic. Many refugee families did not have internet access and parents were not home to support their children’s learning. My mom, a New American herself, shared with me her own experiences of isolation as a student. These conversations led to a lot of introspection. I contacted resettlement organizations to offer tutoring to the kids in the refugee communities. They seized the opportunity!

That summer, I worked with 11 refugee students as a full-time tutor. As the summer progressed, I was asked to take on more students. The progress my students were making was profound and word was spreading quickly. The demand became so great that I couldn’t handle the work all by myself. That fall, I created New American Scholars, which provides educational assistance to refugee students and brings awareness to education inequity.

More than 7,500 refugees from Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan and Burma call New Hampshire their home and schools serve as a key point of integration for their children. The school experience plays a critical role in helping them gain stability and a sense of belonging. A strong educational foundation empowers refugee children by giving them self-confidence, knowledge and skills to live productive lives. However, refugee students face unique educational challenges (language, different cultural norms, teaching styles etc.) that prevent them from having equal opportunity to reach academic standards. The 2022 report from the NAEP is distressing: The pandemic erased two decades of progress in Math & Reading-the largest score drop in over 30 years. Blacks and historically disadvantaged students were hit the hardest and the students who struggle the most had fallen the furthest behind. It is expected to take five years or more to regain lost ground. These setbacks will have powerful consequences for refugee students who must move beyond the basics in school to thrive later on. Compounding the problem, are severe teacher and staff shortages, particularly in the areas of math, science, English as a Second Language (ESL) and special education. The need for collective action to support refugee students has never been greater. The work of New American Scholars is needed now more than ever.

Since the creation of New American Scholars 1 year ago, our programs have 26 tutors who reach over 100 refugee students in communities throughout New Hampshire. I created an on-boarding process that includes training on cultural sensitivity, unconscious bias, cross-cultural communication and culture shock. I designed a tutoring manual which orients tutors about our organization’s vision, mission, values and culture. The manual guides tutors on the pedagogical approaches to teaching displaced learners and how to overcome the unique challenges they encounter.

Many of New American Scholars' tutors are peers, which helps foster both an educational approach and social approach. Peer tutors are best equipped to help refugee students adjust to and navigate the social and academic demands of school. Schools around the state are a reliable source for student tutors in our programs.

This summer, I worked with refugee organizations throughout the state to integrate and administer educational programming into their summer camps, after-school care, community gatherings etc. This opened many more points of access to reach students.

I spoke with state legislators and U.S. Senators from New Hampshire to raise awareness of the challenges experienced by refugee students. We hope to match refugee students with scholarship opportunities to pursue higher education and apprenticeship programs.

NAS has established a wide network of volunteers, tutors, community organizers, refugee leaders, churches, schools and teachers. To promote our program, I met with principals and teachers at schools across the state. We forged partnerships with other nonprofit organizations and are working to overcome barriers to reaching refugee students & their families. Our successes include:

1) A summer program that touched over 100 refugee students.

2) One-on-one and small group tutoring at the local public library for students in the NAS-(Intensive) program.

3) Established an after-school reading program for refugee children ages 6-12 in partnership with Southern New Hampshire University.

4) Launched the “Study Buddy” program which matches a refugee student with a peer tutor online during the academic school year.

5) Received a grant for the Ed-Tech Project: a tech-based teaching platform that personalizes instruction for each student using an adaptive learning platform. Technology-based Adaptive learning systems create a successful educational environment by giving refugee students a sense of autonomy in their learning.

By seeking donations, awards, and grants, we are working to increase our impact and expand upon the programs we offer. Our goal is to reach every refugee community across New Hampshire and beyond.

Please visit: NewAmericanScholars.org for more information.

New American Scholars believes that quality education is a human right and, as a community, we are responsible to provide access to quality education on an equitable basis. It has been inspiring to witness how the actions of a few can influence so many. Through NAS, we are seeing it in real time, with our own eyes. For example, the students at one high school in New Hampshire are required to write essays and create a project inspired by our work in their English class.

Our work has inspired the New Hampshire Women's Foundation to award us the first ever, Women and Girls of Color grant.

We speak regularly about our work through presentations at service clubs around the state. Volunteers who are involved with our programs are getting a real life glimpse into what it means to provide educational and social resources in a compassionate, equitable, and purposeful way.

Through every event, conversation, and breakthrough with a student or volunteer, New American Scholars is gaining more traction and incredible support throughout New Hampshire.

While New American Scholars’ achievements have surpassed my expectations, there is much more work to be done. I feel Prudential Emerging Visionaries can help me realize the dream of expanding New American Scholars’ reach beyond the borders of my state to improve the lives of refugee students across the nation.