̽»¨¾«Ñ¡

By Felix Kioko, youth services coordinator, and Raika Jones, youth caseworker

At the age of eighteen, Mami was forced to drop out of school in her home country of Guinea and apply for asylum. By February 2020, she joined her father and siblings in Baltimore where she had the opportunity to finish high school and earn her diploma. However, just a few weeks after she arrived, Maryland public schools closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Mami called the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡â€™s staff every week for updates as to when schools would open, devastated because she was eager to study science, apply to college and become a doctor.

In June Mami enrolled into the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡â€™s refugee youth mentoring program (RYMP) to socialize with other refugee youth and be supported to navigate the U.S. educational system, identify career interests, and ease into American social life and culture. During the weekly zoom sessions, Mami connected with other new arrivals and participated in virtual tours of museums, aquariums and even the White House. She also met regularly with a youth success coach who happened to be a first-year medical student at the University of Maryland Medical School. To determine her eventual grade placement, the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ youth caseworker, Raika Jones, helped Mami obtain and translate her overseas school transcripts for submission to the Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) enrollment office. A native French speaker, RYMP coaching sessions gave Mami the opportunity to practice speaking English over the summer and by September her English had substantially improved.

By summer’s end, BCPS confirmed Mami was eligible to matriculate into the senior class of Baltimore’s Academy College for Career Exploration (ACCE) High School. She also received an RYMP graduation certificate and an Amazon gift card to purchase school supplies. Although ACCE classes are remote, Mami is thrilled to finally be back on track to complete her education—and thanks to RYMP she is certainly proficient in online learning. At the final RYMP mentoring session, Mami was proud to inform her mentor and peers that she had started classes.

Mami shows off the school supplies she purchased with her amazon gift card

Photo: Mami

Learn more about becoming a volunteer youth success coach here, or support students like Mami by purchasing gift cards from our or to the ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡ in Baltimore.