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Saida Aden Said: I still have
this horrific image in my mind.

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I could see people falling down,

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gunshots.

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I was so terrified.

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Really, I was crying a lot.

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Someone who knew my father and my mom

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grabbed my hand, and he said,
"Let's go. Let's go. Let's go."

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And I was, like, "Where's my mom?
My mom? My mom?"

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Noria Dambrine Dusabireme:
During nights we would hear shots,

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we would hear guns.

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Elections were supposed to happen.

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We had young people going in the street.

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They were having strikes,

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and most of them, people died.

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SAS: We boarded a vehicle.

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It was overloaded.

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People were running for their lives.

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That is how I fled from Somalia.

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My mom missed me.

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Nobody told her where I went.

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NDD: The fact that
we did not go to school,

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we couldn't go to the market,
we were just stuck home

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made me realize that if I got an option
to go for something better,

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I could just go for it
and have a better future.

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(Music)

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Ignazio Matteini: Globally,
displaced people in the world

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have been increasing.

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Now there are almost 60 million
people displaced in the world.

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And unfortunately it doesn't stop.

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Chrystina Russell: I think
the humanitarian community

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is starting to realize
from research and reality

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that we're talking about
a much more permanent problem.

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Baylie Damtie Yeshita: These students,
they need a tertiary education,

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a degree that they can use.

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If the students are living now in Rwanda,

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if they get relocated,
still they can continue their study.

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Still, their degree is useful,
wherever they are.

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CR: Our audacious project
was to really test

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Southern New Hampshire University's
global education movement's

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ability to scale,

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to bring bachelor's degrees
and pathways to employment

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to refugees and those who would otherwise
not have access to higher education.

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SAS: It was almost impossible,
as a refugee person,

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to further my education

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and to make my career.

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My name is Saida Aden Said,

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and I am from Somalia.

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I was nine years old when I came to Kakuma

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and I started going to school at 17.

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Now I am doing my bachelor degree

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with SNHU.

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NDD: My name is Noria Dambrine Dusabireme.

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I'm doing my bachelor of arts
in communications

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with a concentration in business.

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CR: We are serving students
across five different countries:

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Lebanon, Kenya, Malawi,
Rwanda and South Africa.

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Really proud to have 800 AA grads
to over 400 bachelor's graduates,

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and nearly a thousand students
enrolled right now.

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So the magic of this

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is that we're addressing
refugee lives as they exist.

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There are no classes.

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There are no lectures.

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There are no due dates.

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There are no final exams.

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This degree is competency-based
and not time-bound.

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You choose when you start your project.

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You choose how you're
going to approach it.

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NDD: When you open the platform,
that's where you can see the goals.

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Under each goal, we can find projects.

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When you open a project,
you get the competencies

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that you have to master,

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directions,

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an overview of the project.

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CR: The secret sauce of SNHU

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is combining that
competency-based online learning

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with an in-person learning
that we do with partners

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to provide all the wrap-around supports.

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That includes academic coaching.

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It means psychosocial support,

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medical support,

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and it's also the back end
employment support

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that's really resulting
in the 95 percent graduation,

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the 88 percent employment.

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NDD: I'm a social media management intern.

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It's related to the communications
degree I'm doing.

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I've learned so many things
out of the project and in the real world.

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CR: The structured internship
is really an opportunity

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for students to practice their skills,

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for us to create connections
between that internship

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and a later job opportunity.

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(Music)

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This is a model that really
stops putting time

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and university policies
and procedures at the center

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and instead puts the student
at the center.

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IM: The SNHU model

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is a big way to shake the tree.

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Huge.

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It's a huge shake to the traditional way
of having tertiary education here.

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BDY: It can transform
the lives of students

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from these vulnerable
and refugee communities.

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NDD: If I get the degree,

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I can just come back and work
everywhere that I want.

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I can go for a masters
confidently in English,

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which is something that I
would not have dreamt of before,

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and I have the confidence
and the skills required

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to actually go out
and just tackle the workplace

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without having to fear
that I can't make it.

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SAS: I always wanted
to work with the community.

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I want to establish a nonprofit.

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We advocate for women education.

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I want to be someone

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who is, like, ambassador

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and encouraging them to learn

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and tell them it is never too late.

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It's a dream.