BY RUNE TORGERSEN
KENYAN REFUGEE PLANS TO USE EDUCATION TO HELP PEOPLE IN HIS HOME COUNTRY HARNESSING THE POWER OF EDUCATION
hen Yung Idow was growing up in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, his daily life was a mix of ordinary childhood and extraordinary struggle. Every day was a gamble, haunted by the notion that, at any moment, his mother could lose her son. “As a kid, I was just normal, going to school, playing soccer, but there was also a good chance of dying every day, and my mom was always worried whenever I would go out,” said Idow, a junior in the College of Business. “Reflecting back, I’m still processing all that she went through to get me here, and the main reason I want to do good in the world is to make my mom proud; to show her that the investment she made in me has been worth it.” In 2017, Idow and his mother managed to relocate to the U.S., first in St. Louis and then in Seattle about a month later. Faced with a new social structure in an unfamiliar country, Idow did everything he could to make the most of the life-changing opportunity he’d been given. “It was super challenging at first, but putting in the work and getting results taught me that I can do anything as long as I put my whole self into it,” he said. Idow was always fascinated by airplanes and aviation, so he joined the Museum of Flight’s Aeronautical Science Pathway aviation program. He went on to earn a private pilot certification through the program, and upon graduating from high school in 2020, he joined the U.S. Army. W
Idow enrolled at CWU in 2021 as an aviation major, but soon found his way to the College of Business. “Discovering business at CWU really changed my life,” he said. “They have the resources there for anything you want to pursue, and the opportunities that the College of Business provides have helped me grow a lot.” Idow soon decided to change tracks and pursue a double major in entrepreneurship and leadership — degrees that would allow him to help the people he cares about. “My goal in life is to help as many people as I can, especially people in Africa, who are suffering in a lot of ways,” he said. “I chose entrepreneurship to help their economy and help them advance in the world.” Idow has built an expansive network in the College of Business, while also chalking up some significant accolades. Among the highlights was earning second place in last spring’s Cat Tank small business competition, alongside friend and business partner Cole Smith. He also captained a CWU student team called Yung Starz at the 2023 Boeing Case Competition. Once he graduates in 2025, Idow plans to continue his education by pursuing a master’s degree in business administration. He believes an MBA will help him set a good example and maximize the impact he can have on the lives of others. “I want to keep pursuing my education so I can be an example for kids like me,” Idow said. “I work hard to keep good grades so that other kids can see someone like them who made it. I want them to say, ‘if Yung can do this with his background, I can do it, too.’”
I work hard to keep good grades so that when kids come from a refugee camp or a similar place, they can see someone like them who made it. —Yung Idow
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