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SALT LAKE CITY — Kanchan Pokhrel has known he wanted to be a pilot since his first time on a plane at 12 years old.
It wasn't just his first flight; it was also his first experience seeing an airplane up close since flying was far from a common practice in his home country of Nepal. In fact, the rare times a plane did fly overhead, Pokhrel said people assumed the contrails were a rocket.
That day, however, Pokhrel and his family sat on a small aircraft — one of the first steps of the family's journey to Utah, where they came as refugees with the help of the United Nations and International Organization of Migration. Because of the two-by-one seat configuration, Pokhrel was assigned a seat by himself.
"I was really scared yet very excited because I knew this was something I wanted to do," he said. "Back in Nepal, the cockpits are pretty much open and you can see pilots and what they're doing. I was very excited. I thought that's something I could do in future, but I didn't know any direction or any path I could take."
Just over a decade later Pokhrel is making that dream a reality as he graduates from Utah Valley University with a Bachelor of Science in Pofessional Pilot. He currently works as a flight instructor and is building up the hours of flight time needed to become a pilot with an airline.
Pokhrel is one of 57 students who graduated from college this year with help from the One Refugee program. The nonprofit helps refugee students complete their higher education and transition into careers through academic mentoring, professional development and financial assistance. One Refugee has helped a total of 425 students graduate since its founding in 2014.
"Our graduates are now working as nurses, elementary school teachers, advocates and engineers; they're entering every industry," One Refugee executive director Raymon Burton said during the program's graduation ceremony Monday. "Every single one of these graduates today could share their own exceptional story of perseverance and determination in the face of incredible odds. Not only did they and their families flee persecution and war, but they had to overcome their own biggest enemy: self doubt."
As a first generation student and refugee, Pokhrel lacked both the institutional knowledge and financial resources to attend college on his own. He said One Refugee and his own persistence to accomplish his dream made the difference.
"Scholarships are one of the main things we need because my parents, they don't speak English, they barely make enough money to pay the rent and stuff like that," Pokhrel said. "However, I had a desire, I had a dream since I was a little kid to do this and I forced myself to do it. Yes, I feel like it's worth it if you have the desire to do it."
The majority of One Refugee students are first-generation students like Pokhrel — all are the first generation in their families to attend college in the U.S. Despite the obstacles facing the students, the program has an 82% graduation rate.
"Everyone who joins One Refugee has come from a refugee background, so they fled their country, whether that's war or persecution in some way and they've come to the United States and they've had to learn English," Burton said. "They're navigating in a very difficult and complicated and complex educational system. And they're the first ones to do it in their family. So in a lot of ways, we're acting as a family in that situation to where we can guide them and kind of coach them through that entire experience."
For Nadia Yahyapour, another One Refugee 2023 graduate, the program opened doors that she never imagined possible as a Baha'i woman living in Iran.
"In Iran, the reality that I knew and accepted was that members of the Baha'i faith are not allowed in higher education institutes, not allowed to work jobs that require anything beyond a high school education, and not allowed to freely express themselves or practice their religion," Yahyapour said during a speech at the graduation ceremony.
Persecution of the Baha'i in Iran has also included the firing of hundreds of Baha'i physicians from their jobs and restrictions on how members of the faith can access medical care. Because of this, Yahyapour and her family only saw a doctor for emergencies, and she remembers traveling with her mother into the city to visit a dentist who practiced illegally.
"It was only when we moved to the U.S. that I realized I was supposed to visit the dentist regularly and not just when I had extreme pain," she said.
During her first few months in the U.S., Yahyapour had to get six cavities filled. As she continued to see a dentist regularly, Yahyapour began to see dentistry as a form of art.
"This is how my passion for dentistry started and it continued to grow," said Yahyapour, who will attend dentistry school in the fall. "My message to all the recent graduates and those still pursing their education is one that Nelson Mandela best described: 'Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.'"
More information about the program, including details on how to apply, is available at One Refugee's website.
