Dare to Dream aims to draw Somali students to SCSU

Dare to Dream aims to draw Somali students to SCSU
By David Unze • dunze@stcloudtimes.com • May 20, 2010

Comments(56) Cabdicasiis (Abdi) Cilmi graduated from Technical High School, he relied primarily on word-of-mouth from those who graduated before him to learn about St. Cloud State University.
Now Cilmi is helping other Somalis learn about St. Cloud State and develop and strengthen connections between the university and the area's Somali population. The Dare to Dream events that Cilmi and other St. Cloud State admissions employees have been facilitating are an important part of the university's mission to attract and retain students of color, said Mahmoud Saffari, associate vice president for enrollment management.
The university has had similar events in St. Cloud and around the state for Hispanic, Hmong, American Indian, African American and multicultural communities. An event from 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Cloud Public Library will focus on what St. Cloud State can offer Somalis who are pondering their college choices.
Cilmi, who graduated from St. Cloud State, has promoted the event in St. Cloud schools, in the local mosque and by handing out fliers.
"There wasn't the availability for me to hear these sources of information," he said, talking about his post-high school, pre-college preparation.
And many local Somalis he speaks to have been steered toward two-year vocational institutions and don't consider four-year colleges and universities, he said.
"They didn't have the thinking that they are able to go to four year's college," he said. "But now the last two years when I speak to students in St. Cloud school district I'm hearing, 'I want to go to St. Cloud State University.'"
He speaks from experience when he tells parents and high school students that they don't have to limit themselves to a two-year vocational college.
"You can go to St. Cloud State University," he said he tells them. "I did."
St. Cloud State has seen its population of students of color increase by 154 percent since fall 2002, with almost 1,600 students of color attending St. Cloud State.
Projected changes in the number of white students graduating Minnesota high schools from 2004-05 to 2014-15 show a decrease of 17 percent, Saffari said. And projections show that, during the same time period, high school graduates of color will increase by 40 percent, he said.



"We have come to realize that when it comes to students of color, we need to transport the university to where they are because sometimes they don't come to us," Saffari said.




Last year's Somali event, the first Dare to Dream event targeting the Somali population, had more than 100 people attend.
A Somali elder will speak at this year's event, which will be attended by St. Cloud State President Earl H. Potter III. And there will be a representative from Robert Johnson's summer math and science classes that he has run that bring younger students to campus for a taste of college life and learning. That program has been hailed as a pipeline for sending students of color to St. Cloud State.
There also will be a panel of four Somali graduates who will answer questions.
The Dare to Dream events are similar to College Days that St. Cloud State holds, events in which admissions works with campus student groups to bring potential students to campus.
Dare to Dream is a little less formal, with food and family members invited to an event off campus.
"The Dare to Dream is the same kind of thinking as (College Days) except you add in the family piece, the parents. And we hold them in the community and we try to have familiar type foods and cater from places they are familiar with. It's a lot less formal," said Adrece Thighman-Nabe, associate director in the admissions office.
"We'll go and we'll see some very young children there. And that's OK, because what we want to do is be conveying the message to all ages that college is a possibility and, certainly, specifically St. Cloud State," said Richard Shearer, director of admissions at St. Cloud State.
Many of the materials that are used at the Dare to Dream sessions are translated into the language used primarily by the group attending.
Those students and family members see the diversity of the admissions department staff, which in 2002 had one employee of color out of 11 and now has six employees of color out of 16, Saffari said.
That diversity of staff and the translation of publications and videotapes into their language show parents and children that the university cares because it has put resources into efforts to reach those target groups, Saffari said.