Four Underprivileged Telugu Girls Make It To US College Programme:- The financial restraints will no longer hold these Telugu girls from chasing their dreams.

All from economically poor backgrounds, Shwethana Leela, Kaveri Aavula and Anjum Begum from Telangana, along with Haseena Shaik from Andhra Pradesh have made it to the Community College Initiative (CCI) programme sponsored by the US State Department.

To pursue their one-year courses in community colleges in the US, the girls will soon fly to the US. From about 100 applicants from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha after an interview and examination, the US Consulate General, Hyderabad selected them for the 2017 batch of the programme.

One of the girl, Leela who finished her intermediate with first class, could not continue higher education due to the financial issues. Leela’s hard work and absolute determination have paid off. She is now selected for a Computer Inter networking Technology course in the Northern Virginia Community College, Annadale, Virginia. The story of another girl, Anjum who completed an Intermediate vocational course in Child Care with 95%, could not continue higher education due to financial restraints.

Anjum has secured admission in the Northern Virginia Community College in the Early School Age Care course. Anjum said, “My elder brother is a special child. I want to open a pre-school when I am back home and serve special children.”

Thinking out of the box, Haseena chose to pursue Agriculture Geospatial Technology in the Kirkwood Community College, Iowa. While she wanted to take up BSc in Agriculture here, money was a problem. To identify lands and grow crops accordingly, she now wants to use geospatial technology.

“I will try to implement the technology back home to help farmers here,” she said.

The Event management, Tourism and Hospitality course in the Northern Virginia Community College has been taken up by Kaveri. She will be the first girl from her village in Shamshabad to fly to the US.

“I never thought a chance like this would come. I was actively involved in event management since my school days. As I liked it, I decided to join the course,” she smiles.

The four girls are all gearing up to fly to the US in July.

SUPRAJA