Ikhwan Bwanaadi, World Link YES student from Kenya, is living a life-changing year in Colorado Springs. He is active in school life, has learned many new hobbies, is taking on leadership roles in his school clubs and learning through community service.

Ikhwan’s grades have been excellent this year, and he was awarded the principal’s honor roll for his academic achievements. He also earned a writing award in his English class and has excelled in art class, which is one of his newfound hobbies and which has become a new passion in his life. Ikhwan has been involved in a variety of community service projects this year for a total of 38 hours. He has grilled burgers for the homeless, worked with animals at an animal sanctuary, and shelves books at the library.

Ikhwan is very excited about his leadership position in the Peace Jam Club. He serves as the Vice President, contributes ideas, serves as the administrator of their web page and was elected as a club representative to go to Denver to meet Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Betty Williams. Besides the Peace Jam, Ikhwan is active in two other service clubs: Worms and Key club. He also participates in art club.

One of the biggest impacts on Ikhwan’s American year has been his sports involvement. Despite his physical limitations, he earned a place on the school soccer team, where he was able to play in the games, be a part of the team experience and make many friends. In fact, the entire soccer team came to his birthday party and celebrated with him. After soccer ended, Ikhwan started learning to swim. Living on an island in Kenya and unable to swim before this year, this was a huge accomplishment for Ikhwan and a skill that he will be able to take back to Kenya to use for the rest of his life. He has worked hard at learning to swim and is loving it. He will also take with him the skill of riding a bike, which he says will be life changing in Kenya, because he will now be able to ride like the other boys and have more independence. Ikhwan recognizes this year as a life-changing time that has developed him into a strong leader with a passion to impact his nation.