Joan Liu
UWCSEA
Singapore
Selena Malla
Former EdUSA Advisor
Nepal
One Small Thing, one big thank you
So, here we are, four years later.
We are happy to report that all Nepali students who were impacted by the UT Tyler scholarship revocation will be graduating from university, most of them graduating in just one month. Looking back at how these students made it through a scholarship revocation, (2018), an immigration scare (2019), and a global pandemic (2020-present) — we truly believe these resilient students can do anything.
It is not lost on us, the severe emotional and mental toll that this situation took on these students. Many suffered depression, trauma, panic, even thoughts of ending their own lives, at the prospect of a lost future.
Yet, these students persevered, and have made newsworthy contributions to their communities. They have served in student government, published papers, won national competitions, secured high impact internships, shared their perspectives in newspapers, and served as mentors and role models for underclassmen — all while navigating the cultural, transitional, and financial difficulties of being far from their homes and families.
We wish to take this moment to thank you for your help, support, advice, advocacy, and encouragement. Many of you talked to your deans and VPs, and asked for a last minute seat for a student. You personally donated financially to fill the nearly 180K financial gap that was not covered by scholarship or financial aid. You advised us on how to work with reporters and press. There are many more examples, too many to be named here — thank you.
To our friends and families: thank you for your patience and presence, as we, the women of the 'Nepal Justice League', struggled each day to meet unprecedented challenges in an impossible situation; advise students remotely on Zoom (but first, find them!); crush down our frustration over the injustice done to these young people; advise, coach, and ultimately seat students at new universities in a small window of time where time was running out of the hourglass. In a moment of immense difficulty, one of you said, simply and profoundly: “Just keep going.”
We are grateful to be in a community of counselors and admissions colleagues who deeply care. Thank you for helping these students access higher education, and for making a difference not only in their lives, but in their communities and in future generations of their families. A sincere thank you to all of you.
Kind regards,
Joan Liu & Selena Malla
The Nepal Justice League
From the students
Shashwat Maharjan
Central Michigan University ‘22
Ankrit Gupta
Central Michigan University ‘22
Dear Supporters, Friends, and Well-wishers,
None of this would have been possible without your advocacy, guidance, and your financial and emotional support. We extend our sincere gratitude to the individuals and organizations who volunteered their time, voices, and resources to help us in this unprecedented situation.
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After the incident, many of us stopped dreaming of attending college. Your decision to be involved helped us not only find miracle seats, but also to recover emotionally. We are truly indebted to the Nepal Justice League, the pro bono counselors, and our friends and supporters. It is difficult to put these feelings into words and express how grateful we all are to everyone. You made our wildest dream of attending college abroad a reality. We feel extremely lucky to be encouraged by such caring individuals who know us personally and want to see us succeed. Many of us did not have counselors when we applied to the US, so you became the counselors we never had. You stuck by us to help us find a seat, overcome our adversities, and rise from them.
Thank you to the Catalyst Foundation, the Everest Education Fund, and everyone who donated to our cause. Your support has been transformative for us to fund our education and future. Thank you all for stepping forward to help us. We are trying our best to steward our miracle seats, and we owe our future successes to all of you. We promise you that we will not be bystanders. In times of need or crisis, even if it seems impossible, we will always find a way to do one small thing to help a cause.
On behalf of the 60 impacted students,
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Ankrit Gupta & Shashwat Maharjan