AMIR
We are thrilled to congratulate Amir Mahamet on graduating from Gerald Creamer Center and being accepted to Quinsigamond Community College!
Amir was born in the Central African Republic (CAR). As the Civil War began in 2012, he and his family fled CAR and spent the next four years living in a refugee camp in Chad. Amir remembers how difficult those years were. “Living in the refugee camp was really hard for us because we did not have enough money to live or pay for education,” recalls Amir.
Amir’s family came to the United States in 2016 through the Refugee Resettlement Program. It was winter and Amir distinctly remembers how cold it was compared to living in central Africa.
Amir first attended the New Citizen’s Center (NCC) where he learned about African Community Education (ACE). He began attending the ACE After School Program in 2017, which immediately helped him improve his English and successfully complete his homework assignments. “I did not know English well when I came here, but I learned it at ACE,” says Amir. “At ACE, most of the kids were speaking English to each other and knew my languages as well, so I learned English from them.”
Amir quickly moved on from NCC, attending Burncoat High School and then spending his last two years at Gerald Creamer Center (GCC), where he graduated last month. Amir thrived at GCC, joining the soccer team and finding his favorite subject, English. Amir jokes, “I always found myself writing more than my assignments required.”
Throughout his high school career, Amir continued to attend ACE. Amir says, “ACE is where I would go to do all of my homework, and I made a lot of friends there. Even if I did not have homework to complete that day, I would still attend because ACE is my second home.”
In the fall, Amir will attend Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) where he plans to try out for and play on the soccer team. Amir hopes to play semi-professional or even professional soccer one day.
He also looks forward to studying various science disciplines at QCC because, no matter where his soccer career takes him, he plans to go back and continue school in order to become a doctor.
Amir is thrilled to have achieved his goal of graduating high school and is excited to continue his journey. “We came to the United States to have a better life and here our lives are really good. We have everything we need; a home and the chance to go to school. This is what we were searching for and we thank God for bringing us to the United States,” says Amir.
“Finally, I made it. I graduated from high school. This has been my number one goal in life. Now, it is time to look forward and education is the key.”
We are so incredibly proud of this year’s ACE high school graduates. While we typically honor graduates at the ACE Festival, we are excited to do so by sharing their inspirational stories with you all over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more stories and please drop a note of congratulations for Amir in the comments below!
