ESL Scholarship Established To Help Immigrants/Refugees

Two Portland residents, one the son of immigrant parents, the other the daughter of Mayflower descendants, have established a scholarship to help refugees and immigrants attend college.

The two, who wish to remain anonymous, will donate a minimum of $10,000 this year to provide scholarships so that refugees and immigrants can attend English-As-A-Second Language (ESL) classes at the University of Southern Maine and at the University of New England. The donors have made a commitment to provide a total of $50,000 over five years in the hopes that their gift will generate additional funds to meet the growing demand for ESL courses. USM runs an ESL program to help international students prepare for college-level work at USM or at other schools, while the UNE program is geared to helping high school students as well as students enrolled at UNE.

The scholarship program, known as The Portland ESL Scholarship, will make awards each year to refugees and immigrants living in Greater Portland.

Thanks to the newly established program, five people already are attending ESL classes at USM and UNE. The recipients include: USM student Natalya Kulsha, a Russian who immigrated to the United States three years ago with her mother; Mostafa Rostampour of Kurdistan, Iran, who fled Iran with his wife and now is studying computer technology at Southern Maine Technical College; William Grigoretz, a refugee from Ukraine who came to the U.S. with his wife and also is studying computer technology at SMTC; Germaine Ntumba Kapena, a refugee from The Republic of Congo, who plans to study social work at USM; and Ubah Sheikh of Somalia, who plans to enter a pre-med program at the University of New England upon completion of ESL college preparation courses this summer.

The ESL Programs at USM and UNE will select scholarship finalists. A nonprofit board has been established to oversee the program. Members include Herb Adams, Reza Jalali, Beverly Stearns and Harold Zagorin.

“This is a marvelous gift that not only will ensure that students receive the help they need to become more comfortable with English, but will help them succeed in college classrooms,” said Bart Weyand, USM’s director of the ESL Program. “Many of these students would not otherwise have a chance to develop the skills they need.”

For more information, call 774-3164.