Educating Asia's Women, One Scholarship At A Time

Roksana Akter | Intended Major: Economics | Dhaka, Bangladesh | Class of 2020

Roksana is now in her first year of undergraduate studies at AUW. The courses that she is enrolled in this semester are: Globalization; Calculus; Pantomime Techniques; and Introduction to Computer Science. Additionally, Roksana completed two courses at AUW over the summer: Critical Reading and Critical Thinking. Also during the summer, she did an internship at Caritas in Bangladesh: “I worked as an officer. I went to their different fields and collected data, then wrote a case study with that information. It was really enjoyable for me and I had many experiences that will help me further my career.”

Roksana also participated in community service organized by AUW this summer: “I worked teaching English to underprivileged students. I think this project was very conducive for those students to learn English.” She is also proud of how far her own writing and speaking skills in English have come since she first began her time at AUW. Though she finds it challenging to understand the language at all times, she believes that with more time, she will be able to overcome this.

Additionally, Roksana takes advantage of the many cultural events and workshops that AUW offers. She has been to many conferences and workshops, ranging from ones on travel to ones on leadership and initiating change. Because she enjoys learning about other cultures, Roksana has also participated in cultural events such as Lunar New Year, Waterfall of Myanmar, and Nowruz of Afghanistan.

Overall, Roksana is having a very positive experience at AUW: “I would like to share that I am so happy that I get the opportunity to study at AUW. I am really grateful and thankful.”

Juma Chakma | Intended Major: Politics, Philosophy, and Economics | Khangrachari, Bangladesh | Class of 2020

Throughout her time at AUW thus far, Juma is proud of the improvement her speaking skills have shown. This year, she is focusing on improving her writing skills as well. The biggest challenge she anticipates this year is working hard for all of her courses that are preparing her to begin her time as an undergraduate at AUW. The courses she is currently enrolled in are: Language and Composition; Reading Across Disciplines; Pre-Calculus; World Civilization; Integer Science; Leadership; and Karate.

In addition to her studies, Juma enjoys extracurricular activities at AUW. She says, “I have participated in many cultural events at AUW, like Welcome to My Country, Pohela Palgun (first day of spring season), and Pohela Boishakh (first day of Bengali year).” She has also shown an interest in learning new languages; she shared that she has learned some of the Afghan language and some of the Pakistani language from her friends. She would like to learn more languages during the rest of her time at AUW.

Juma continues to express interest in the humanities, and still intends to declare Politics, Philosophy, and Economics as her major. After graduation, Juma would like to continue her studies and eventually choose a job best suited to her passions, skills, and interests.

Yesmin Akther Urmy | Major: Economics | Chittagong, Bangladesh | Class of 2020

Over the summer, Yesmin completed two AUW courses: Modern Indian History with Special Reference to Bangladesh and Introduction to Ethics. This semester, she is enrolled in the following courses: Introduction to Public Health; Introduction to Development Studies; Principles of Microeconomics; and Principles of Macroeconomics. Yesmin is now in her second year of undergraduate courses at AUW. She has declared a major in Economics because it is one of her favorite subjects, and believes that having a good grasp on the economic happenings of a country is heplful in dealing with the issues that any particualr nation faces. She is also considering declaring a minor in Development Studies. Her biggest challenge at the moment is the amount of studying that she has to do.

Yesmin has interest in alleviating issues in slums in Bangladesh. Near her home, she spends time with young children in slum areas. She says that in the future after graduating from AUW, “I wish to do something for the slum children’s future.”

Improving her writing skills is something that Yesmin aims to achieve this school year. She has completed two writing seminars during her time at AUW, and almost feels comfortable writing a research paper. She received good marks in those classes, and desires to improve her writing skills even further.

In addition to coursework, Yesmin enjoys cultural events with her friends and classmates at AUW. She particularly enjoys Lunar New Year and Pahela Baishakh (Bangla New Year).

Meherun Neesa Naznin Alam | Major: Public Health | Chittagong, Bangladesh | Class of 2021

Meherun is now in her first year of undergraduate studies at AUW. She is currently enrolled in the following courses: Writing Seminar; Biology; Life Writing; and Probability and Statistics. Over the summer, she completed two courses at AUW: Life and Creative Writing and Basic Economics. Additionally over the summer, Meherun completed an internship at Caritas in Chittagong in which she did filing work for the Momota Project of Caritas, and worked as a research assistant for a senior thesis at AUW about traffic police.

Writing is one of Meherun’s passions, and she has been able to explore this as a student at AUW. She says, “On 20^th September, I attended a workshop called ‘Voices of AUW’ at Chittagong Arts Complex. In this workshop, I presented done of my writings, which was my final writing in my summer Life Writing course. It was actually selected as a best story in the course.” Meherun is proud of how her English writing and speaking skills have improved. This year, she aims to improve her creative non-fictional writing skills more.

As expected, Meherun still intends to declare her major in Public Health: “As Bangladesh is a developing country, most of the people are very unaware of their health issues and conditions. Women are suffering in health-related issues. So, I want to work for these women and my society as well.” She also is interested in potentially doing a minor in Economics.

• Dec._2018_report_text.pdf (PDF)