Senior Beats Odds To Win Scholarship

HOUSTON -- Lee High School senior Fatima Kassim penned her success story to win a $10,000 "Beat the Odds" Scholarship from the Children's Defense Fund, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Friday.

In her essay, Fatima wrote, "I have faced obstacles that I never thought I would get over, but all those obstacles only made me who I am today."

Surrounded by violence and poverty in her native Somalia, Fatima and her family fled when she was 6 months old.

Fatima told Local 2, "We ran from there. We left everything behind."

The family relocated to Kenya, where conditions were not much better.

Fatima recalled, "Women were getting raped. There was disease that was spreading and we couldn't live there."

After a stay in Pakistan, the family came to America seeking opportunity. It was not an easy move for Fatima, who spoke little English.

She said, "It was very difficult. I couldn't understand what (my teachers) were saying. They spoke really, really fast, so I was lagging behind everyone."

Her first years in America were a whirlwind of English as a second language classes, summer school and after-school tutoring so Fatima could catch up to her classmates. She eventually surpassed them.

She now has a 4.16 GPA and is president of the National Honor Society and the Performing Arts Community Council.

Lee High Upward Bound Director Trissi Johnson said, "Looking at (Fatima's) background and where she's come from, she's able to have a positive attitude. She's able to go out there and say, 'I'm a product of my environment. However, I'm going to do better than another person in my family or my friends around me.'"

Fatima said her greatest role model and mentor was her father. He passed away when she was 13 from complications from diabetes.

But, she said he continues to influence her every day.

Fatima said, "He would've been really proud. He is really proud, I'm sure, because I really want to become a pediatrician and he knows that, too, so he would say I'm a step closer to my goal."

This fall, Fatima will attend the University of Houston. She hopes to one day raise funds to build schools and hospitals in poor countries.

For more information about the Children's Defense Fund Texas and the other Beat the Odds award winners, visit www.cdftexas.org.