Mission: University

For anyone wondering if this program will actually make a difference in the lives of these students, here’s our first graduate to help put things in perspective.

The year before Mission: University was founded, there was one student at the Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission who dreamed of attending college. Her name is Eddu and she was hoping to study business.

Without much fanfare, following a low-key appeal, supporters were found, money was raised, applications were submitted and Eddu was enrolled in Graphic Era Hill University in Haldwani.

Now, three years later, after a lot of hard work, Eddu has completed her BA in Marketing with a Human Resources minor, graduating ranked #1 in her class! The Valedictorian is called the “topper” in India and it’s a big deal, not just for the student but for the university as well. All schools print and hang gigantic gaudy banners with the topper’s face blown up big, advertising their achievements to all prospective students who pass by. This is especially true when a graduate receives any large placement offers, as Eddu did.

As with all good schools, recruiters visited Eddu’s college campus and looked for new talent to hire. After making the rounds and completing her interviews, Eddu received three offers from top marketing firms, accepting the most lucrative one which came in at over 800,000 rupees/yr. or around $11,000.

To put this in perspective, half of India’s population lives on around $1000 per year or less than $3/day. The median household income in India is around $3100/year. Eddu’s entire three-year degree cost $7400, making it not only a good investment but a life-changing one too. We couldn't be more proud.

When I asked Eddu to make a comment for this post, she sent me long voice messages to fully express her feelings. Here is a piece of what she had to say.

“When I was in 12^th class, I thought of dropping our of my studies. I never thought I’d be going to such a big university. Maybe a smalll local one, but not this. My college experience was very beautiful. I really enjoyed every piece of my college. All the time that I spent, all the friends that I made, and all the memories that I have with me still. Most of all, I want to thank each and every person who has supported me. It really was a true blessing. Thank you.”

Not every student will be a topper like Eddu. But we hope her success is an inspiration to everyone in the Mission: University program and to all remaining students thinking about college in the future. We also hope it’s an inspiration to all of you and the first proof that your donations are money well spent. 

Mission: University is not about degrees or graduates. It’s about giving these kids an opportunity and seeing what they can do with it. With six more students set to graduate next year and seven new students ready to enroll, we’re excited to see what they come up with.

Here’s hoping for many more gaudy banners to come,. 

As a final suggestion, if anyone's interested in having a larger impact on this project, please consider becoming a montly donor. Regular giving is powerful and life-changing.  Click here to get started and thanks for your continued support. 

It began two years ago with 8 students and has grown to 19 with our latest batch of enrollments.

Nineteen kids in college at once! As you might imagine, it’s a logistic, bureaucratic, and financial challenge that requires the support and commitment of many people from many different countries.

This year, we have a few firsts in the program.

Kelly and Jimika will be the first to study law. They’ll be attending Uttranchal University, considered one of the top private law schools in India. Their program is a 5-year master’s program that is sure to challenge them both. Kelly hopes to be a child advocate attorney and Jimika has plenty of time to figure out her specialty.

Trudy will be attending Graphic Era University, studying Business while Nancy will be taking a break from teaching to earn her 2-year B.Ed teach certificate, Gordon will be studying Computer Science, and Sabithri will be working towards her BA and a teaching degree to follow. 

It was a challenging year for college students everywhere last year, with Covid restrictions and lockdowns making remote learning necessary. At the moment, it seems that the latest wave is calming down, all of our students are fully vaccinated, and we are hopeful that college life will return to “normal” for the 2021-2022 school year. Time will tell.

For the record: Clifford (Bio-Tech), Jessica (Journalism), Basanti (Nursing), Kamal (Phys. Ed.), Sonia (BA Social Work) and Job (Political Science) are all on track to graduate in one year’s time. At that time, Sunny will have 2 more years in a 5-year Architecture program and Reeva will have 1 more in a 4-year Travel & Tourism program.) Considering 50% of Indian students drop out before graduation, we are beating the odds. Great job to everyone.

We had five students join the program last year. In all, our two English students: Maya & Rosey…our two Hotel Management students: Kurena & Chandani…and our International Finance student: Jackie…all passed and are ready for year two. 

For everyone who took part in our July Bonus fundraiser, it was a huge success. As expect our $3000 in matching money didn’t last long, maxing out in only TEN MINUTES! That’s 600 seconds.

Huge thanks to our many supporters who stayed up late in Australia or woke up early in California to take part in the 9AM Eastern dash for free cash event. In the end, we raised more than $36,000 and ranked 2^nd overall on the leader board out of 1406 participating organization. Incredible!

Paying for 19 students to go to college all at once is a big job, but we’re nearly there for another year. If you’d like to become a university sponsor, there is one student remaining. Just email me at john@teachher.org and I’ll give you all the details. 

This time next year, we'll have our first graduates...and 7 more students ready to enroll. Thank you all for caring enough to help these students aim higher and dream bigger. 

Sincerely,

John