Seelay

I was born in Afghanistan, a place where girls are imprisoned in their homes just for being female. The girls who want to get an education are bombed, poisoned, threatened, kidnapped, and killed. Schools are set on fire.

Brought to the US from Afghanistan when just a teenager, Seelay began a new life of hope and opportunity unimaginable to her before. Thanks to the support of the Strongheart Group and Wasatch Academy of Mt. Pleasant, Utah she learned English and excelled in math and science, completing high school with honors. As a result, Seelay received a generous scholarship to study Engineering at TCU. Although the scholarship covered her tuition, there remained $5000 in other fees, including mandatory health insurance, books and other student fees that needed to be paid for Seelay to be able to attend school.

The Step Onward Foundation was made aware of Seelay’s situation and quickly responded with the needed funding so that Seelay could begin her freshman year without delay. After a very productive and successful first year at TCU, Seelay included the following in a letter to the Step Onward Foundation:

“As expected, college life was much different than high school life. I, not only, had to learn how to be independent, but push myself beyond my comfort zone to be able to achieve what was important….I want to thank all of you for your help and generosity. I have learned and grown a lot during this past academic year and will continue to do so. I appreciate your trust in me and will do my best to keep your trust in me and will never let you down.”

Now that Seelay has completed her undergrad with the assistance of Step Onward, she is currently working toward completing her PHD in biomedical engineering.