It’s that time of year again. A time when many college graduates will walk across the stage celebrating their hard work and dedication. Some graduates walk across the stage with a big smile responding to the screams from family and friends who came to support. While others walk across the stage with tears streaming down their faces. Not because it is a sad moment, but tears of joy when they look back on all the hurdles they jumped to make graduation a reality.
We would like to honor two strong, powerful and resilient women who graduated on Saturday, May 14, 2016. Women who have jumped several hurdles beating the odds to make graduation a reality.
We would like to say congrats to Aubree Alles who graduated from the University of Phoenix with her Associates in Human Services Management. On June 7th, Aubree will begin her Bachelor’s program in Psychology as she continues to work towards better services at her safe house and become more involved in public speaking and awareness. The most challenging part of obtaining her degree was juggling work, school, family and ministry. She is very grateful to the Sun Gate Foundation for helping her to get to the next step without an additional financial strain. Her advice to other survivors is “You are NOT what happened to you! Go get em and shine!!!!” When asked what is something you’ve learned about yourself through this process, her response was “anything worth having takes hard work and much effort, there is a process we must go through to achieve greatness.”
We say congrats Evelyn Chumbo, a survivor activist, who graduated from the University of Maryland University College with a Bachelor’s in Homeland Security. Now that she completed her undergraduate degree she will be pursing her law degree while assisting survivors of human trafficking to obtain employment. The most challenging part of obtaining her degree was not being able to attend school from the ages of 9 through 17. She is a true definition of an over-comer. With motivation and encouragement from family, friends and the Sun Gate Foundation, she was able to persevere. Her advice to survivors of human trafficking is, “Isn’t easy but never give up on your educational dream if it is what you truly want.” When asked what is one thing you have learned about yourself during the process, her response was, “I have learnt that if you put your heart into what you really want, you can achieve it and never give up.”
Again, we say congrats to Evelyn and Aubree on a job well done. We are cheering you on as continue to pursue your dreams. We hope that these two over-comers encourage other survivors that they too can pursue their educational dreams.