where students in grades six through nine who are new to the United States learn English while also taking core classes. Although Balde had already earned her high school diploma in Guinea, she had to pass a few tests, including the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), to advance to college. Unfortunately, after just three months at the Newcomer Program, Balde’s father kicked her out of HIS house and tried to get her to go back to Africa. "I wanted to be here and continue my education because I know when I go back to Guinea, I wouldn't have all the opportunities that I'm having right here,” Balde said. “I didn't want to be confronted with marriage and a lot of trauma back in my country.” At this point, Balde’s knowledge of English is minimal at best. But, with her determination and drive to remain in the U.S., she found refuge with the director of the Newcomer Program at that time, who took Balde in while she finished her studies. When she was set to attend George Washington High School, Balde took her third attempt at the college assessment test and passed, allowing her to enroll at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis. Making a campus & community impact Over the last three years, while consistently looking for stable housing and moving from one host family to another, Boubacar has maintained a spectacular academic standing with Ivy Tech Indianapolis and stacking up a long list of accomplishments. Balde is a student ambassador for Honor’s College, the Indiana Region President of Phi Theta Kappa, and an executive member of the Student Government Association. She proudly works as a front desk receptionist for the office of Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann, where Balde says she has had the opportunity to be in rooms she otherwise wouldn’t be in and has learned how to improve her leadership skills. However, Balde’s most treasured accomplishment is her work giving back to the communities she loves: her native Fulani tribe and Indianapolis. She has been able to give back to both communities in intelligently clever ways, including writing her first children’s book, “Savvy Yazzy.” “Ivy Tech helped me a lot,” Balde said about the production of Savvy Yazzy. Thanks to the excess financial aid that Ivy Tech helped her find, she had some
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