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Student Overcomes War-Torn Childhood to Become North Side HS Valedictorian
As a child, Youanna Ibrahim faced a grim reality that no one should ever have to experience.
Born and raised in Damascus, Syria, the recent graduate of North Side High School said she only knew it to be a place of peace where she felt welcomed and safe. What she loved about it was its hospitality and openness. She never dreamed that she would one day have to leave it behind.
But in early spring 2011, pro-democracy protests spread after teenagers were arrested and brutalized for painting revolutionary graffiti supporting the Arab Spring on a wall. Things escalated. Multiple people were killed or imprisoned.
And then, things worsened. A civil war unfolded. There were attacks and bombings. Thousands died.
Youanna said she lost friends who fled the country. Areas that should would frequently visit were no longer deemed safe. The hardest day, Youanna said, was witnessing the loss of her school and soon having to immediately evacuate.
“In 2011 the war broke out in my home country in a sudden and unexpected manner,” she writes. “I was forced to face many situations that no girl my age should ever have to encounter.
“I had to live my life in constant fear of explosions or attacks.”
An opportunity for Youanna’s father to finish his theological studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary brought her family to Fort Worth in 2014.
With aspirations to one day become a surgeon and return to Syria to help people, she enrolled in the Gold Seal Medical Professions Program of Choice at North Side High School. The program gave her opportunities to obtain her “goal” and find her “purpose.”
“The pain I saw during the war left a lasting hunger in me to become as influential as I can possibly be,” Youanna writes. “This provides me with the motivation to do my absolute best in order widen my range of influence in the future.”
On Sunday, June 3, Youanna delivered the valedictory speech at North Side High School’s commencement ceremony at the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena on the campus of Texas Christian University.
Youanna intends to study biochemistry at TCU. She is among Fort Worth ISD's nearly 30 graduates awarded full scholarships through the TCU Community Scholars program.
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