Humans of Hamline

“My family and I came here from Ethiopia and I’ve worked at Hamline University for about two years now. We came to Minnesota in 2012 through the DV (Diversity Immigrant Visa Program) lottery. I have a relative who already lived here and is a really good friend of mine who sponsored me and my family. When I lived in Ethiopia I was learning nursing, but when I came here I needed a job right away, so now I work for ABM, who does the cleaning for Hamline. Hamline is very good. The students and staff are all very nice here, but my dream is that someday, when my two kids have grown up, I’ll be able to go back to school for nursing.”

“When my two kids have grown up, I’ll be able to go back to school for nursing”

Photo Courtesy of Ebise Lata

Earl Schwartz

“My vocation has always been a teacher, and I’ve been very fortunate to have had wonderful teachers, wonderful teachers and role models. Going back to my childhood I think that I’ve always wanted to emulate their example. I’ve wanted to be who they were. So, in that respect my wanting to be a teacher is directly related to my having been

“I’ve had the unusual experience of teaching the same student in daycare fortunate enough to have had wonderful teachers in my life. On the other hand, the most rewarding part of being a and, years later, again in college.” teacher is of course the students. Given that I started teaching in 1976, I have Photo by Natalie Pieterick students who are now well up in years. One of my first teaching positions was in a daycare center. I’ve had the unusual experience of teaching the same student in daycare and, years later, again in college. I also have many students these days who are the children of students of mine from many years ago. One of the greatest rewards, I think, of living in a community over time and maintaining relationships is the rare opportunity to see lives bloom and grow, and to have some satisfaction in knowing that, at some point along the way, you were a part of the process.”

Yasmin Hirsi

“My family and I came to this country from Nairobi,

Kenya when I was 8 years old. We moved here for my sister. She had a heart problem that seemed like it was going to need surgery, but luckily it closed up on its own. We’ve moved around some since then. We lived in Syracuse, New York for a while before we moved to Portland, Maine where I went to school for fourth grade until halfway through my sophomore year of high school, when we moved to Apple Valley, Minnesota. I went to two high schools in Apple

Valley: Apple Valley High School for the remainder of my sophomore year, and then the School of

Environmental Studies for my junior and senior “Helped us expand our years. My experiences at these high schools were knowledge far beyond our very interesting, the first one was very hard because I came from such a small town where everyone textbooks” Photo Courtesy of Yasmin Hirsi knew each other and we were all friendly. I remember feeling so small in that high school, that’s why I transferred to the School of Environmental Studies where there were only juniors and seniors with a total of 400 students. It wasn’t a school I would’ve ever thought of going to, but they allowed us to do many amazing things and helped us expand our knowledge far beyond our textbooks. I’ve had many new experiences since coming to this country. I’ve seen snow for the first time, gone camping, and other amazing experiences.”