Please join Mirna Ayshoa from Iraq, who recently completed her Masters Degree in Cell and Molecular Biology at CSU for her presentation about her two different experiences coming here to Fort Collins / CSU and in Iraq. She will talk about her journeys from Iraq to study here on two different occasions and how they were different in part because the situation changed between the two trips and her current immigration situation after completing her studies and all the obstacles that people go through. She will also address the cultural differences, challenges and how people respond to them differently. She will show pictures from Iraq and tell about the ethno-religious diversity there. Mirna Ayshoa is originally from a village in the north and comes from a small ethno religious minority called Chalo -Assyrians and they speak Aramaic and are Catholic. She completed her studies and graduated in December 2016 and is currently working on getting her work permit and obtaining refugee status here. Between her visits to Fort Collins she worked with the dean of her college in Baghdad to educate other women about the leadership exchange program she came to Fort Collins with. Her efforts from 2011 – 2015, along with others, encouraged over 30 young Iraqi women to come to the U.S for this program over a 3-year period. She began her Master’s degree in Iraq studying pollution / water quality and while doing this organized an English club to help other Iraqi women with their English bringing American conversation partners. This met with some resistance from conservative families who did not like their daughters learning English. She applied for and received a Fulbright Scholarship to come to CSU.