Bounding Into the Unknown
Wambui Machua stood in front of a classroom of eager students ready to learn how to cook traditional Kenyan dishes. “I had never taught anything!”
Category: Portland
Juniper Yarnall-Benson
Juniper Yarnall-Benson is a sophomore at Portland Community College where she studies art history and graphic design. Her family comes from a long line of
Success Spurred by Jamaica’s Way of Life
The star student was in trouble. Michael Taylor was a sophomore at an elite Jamaican high school, Campion College, which had welcomed him as a freshman
Ready to Make Something Better
Kapila Narayanan Chandramouli was just a third grader when he travelled to Chennai, India, to learn how to craft a veena, a traditional string instrument,
Helping Others as a Lifelong Mission
Just days after the terrorist attacks on New York City of Sept. 11, 2001, Hazar Jaber’s landlord gave her one week to leave the Boston apartment
A Rabbi After All: Fulfilling a Calling
By the time he was seven, Eliezer Schwartz had already learned that if he ran fast enough and threw a lot of stones, he could protect himself from the schoolyard […]
Turning Pain Into Ambition
Lisa Amani is a driven 18-year-old. This fall, she will start her first year at University of Oregon, with $130,000 worth of scholarships.
Tending a Garden and Her Dreams
Salsabel Al Masri’s garden was the center of her world. She and her five brothers spent every day after school chasing each other among the olive, orange, apple,
From Conflict to Confidence
At just six years old, Heriberto Bolanos raised his hand to cross the border from Mexico into the United States under the powerful jets
Giving Back to Move Forward
Ferrer has always had a driven mentality that leads him to make the best out of each situation that comes his way. “I can always learn
A Social Media Post’s Resonance
Three pizzas from Dominos—that’s what Aishwarya Sreenivasan expected to donate to hospital workers fighting Covid-19. In late March, the Portland mother of two
A Triumph of Human Resilience
In an isolation cell at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), 27-year-old Gayathri Ramprasad wondered, “Am I crazy or is the world crazy?”
From Homeless to a Grammy Award Win
For Denzel Mendoza, music has been what ties his life together. Mendoza was born in Singapore in 1996 and the family moved to the U.S. a few years later for […]
Writing Your Way Toward Who You Are
“That was when I became myself,” says Ramiza Koya, remembering the backpacking trip she took in India when she was 25 years old.
From Zim Kid to COVID-19 Advisor
When Bukhosi Dube recently took a big pay cut to work as a physician at the Multnomah County Health Department, his goal was to ultimately find work in public