Launched in August 2015, Back to College is one of the projects of Bhutan Media Society (BMS), designed and aimed to encourage resettled former Bhutanese refugees in the Diaspora to achieve higher/college education. BMS shall undertake research, document success stories, conduct interviews and publish articles relating to the subject.
Generally observed phenomena, the rates of Bhutanese students enrolling into college education in the U.S., after completing high school is still low. The lower college enrollment is attributed to low level of motivation and lack of enthusiasm to pursue goals in life, the professional goals that demand higher academic performance, among others. This is the area BMS shall venture to investigate and act as medium to project role models and success stories of the community.
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Yadav Sapkota, born in the Bhutanese Refugee Camp in Timai, Jhapa, in 1993, was resettled in Roanoke, Virginia in 2011. Having completed his School Leaving Certificate (SLC) from the refugee camp, he attended his high school in Virginia, and then went to Virginia Western, a local community college.
Now, he is a fulltime student at the University of Virginia, and plans to become a physician assistant. Below is his speech that he delivered during his graduation ceremony at Virginia Western:
