This week I received some incredible news. Some of you may remember when I took my girls to Bishkek near the end of my Peace Corps service for the ACCELS test. Just as a refresher, ACCELS is a highly competitive English competition that consists of three rounds of testing. Those students who pass all three rounds (about 60 per year from Kyrgyzstan) get to come study in America for a year for free. It's an amazing opportunity for which only 1-2 students a year in Talas qualify. My last summer in Jon-Aryk you might recall my club girls and I studying hard to prepare for the test. In October 2007, we all traveled to Bishkek together, and two of my students passed the first round, but did not make it any farther.
You might also recall my disappointment that my best student, Aizada, didn't pass the first round that year. This girl is one of the brightest, most hard-working students I've ever met (Kyrgyz or American). She studied so hard for that test, coming to English club diligently 2 hours a day, 4 days a week, and doing grammar exercises on her own at home. Of all my students, I thought she had the best chance of passing that year, so for her chances to be cut short so quickly was quite shocking for us both.
In my last post from Kyrgyzstan, I wrote about how proud I was of Aizada, not only for her hard work, but also for her attitude. After finding out she hadn't passed the test, she told me she had learned an important lesson. She was used to always coming in first, so it was good for her to know how it felt not to win. She told me, and I quote!: "It's ok. I won't give up. I will try again next year. I will show America who is Aizada!"
And show America she did! She took the test again this past fall, passing the first AND second rounds this time. And the incredible news I received this week was that she also passed the third round, meaning she is coming to America in August for a year! I cannot express fully my excitement and my pride. I talked to Aizada Monday morning and she is also bursting at the seams. "I'm on cloud nine!" she said :-).
It's hard for me to believe that she will be here in 5 short months. I'm communicating with some ACCELS people to see what we can do about getting her placed in or around DC, which would be amazing! But no matter where she is--I don't care if it's the middle of nowhere in Kansas--I will definitely go visit her and fly her out to DC at least once. My friend Will's student Lunara also passed, so we are already planning excursions to Disneyworld and Universal Studios :-)
I wanted this so badly for Aizada, and have prayed for years now that God would make a way for her to come to the States, and now she's coming! I'm so excited for her, for the opportunity this will be, for the doors this will open in her life, and above all, that I get to SEE her and hug her and be with her again. When we were saying goodbye on the phone this week, she said to me, "See you soon!" Yay for Aizada! America, watch out! A little bit of amazing is about to shine her light on you this August.
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