Simin Wahdat is the second OAD student to graduate from Bucknell. She graduated on May 21, and Athena Katsaros was there to celebrate and share the experience.  I was so excited to share the weekend of graduation festivities with Simin and the other members of her ‘American family’. I realized that it was the end of a 5 year journey, beginning on the day I decided to help her get a scholarship to Bucknell University and ending on the day of her graduation.

This was a bittersweet feeling. The four years she spent at University were so rich and fulfilling. And our time together during school breaks were so precious and fun. I will miss her and yet I know it is the beginning of a new phase in her life where she will go home to Kabul and contribute to the lives of women there as she launches her career. The most moving moment of the weekend for me was when I spoke with

her father by phone, who was with her whole family in Afghanistan. He was so happy and grateful to all that Simin’s ‘American family’ had done for her. I was so honored to have the chance to tell him how well his daughter had done in her studies and how much I love having her in my life. As Simin stood with her cap and gown on and her diploma in hand, my heart filled with joy and hope for her future and for all those she will touch.