Contact: Bruce Conley, Associate Director of College Relations
Phone: (605) 274-5526
Fax: (605) 274-4903
www.augie.edu

April 25, 2005

Student Wins Scholarship for Essay on Success

SIOUX FALLS - Some might say Andria Chol can already be labeled a success for surviving the civil war in Sudan.

But the Augustana freshman has a different view of measuring success, and by putting it in words he has earned a $1000 scholarship.

“For me, success means being happy and being proud of what I have accomplished in my entire life,” he wrote. “As I started my school by sitting on stones for my chairs and benches, and writing on the floor for my exercise books, I have made a conscious and beneficial choice not to take education for granted. Education is my tool for success.”

Nancy Dickinson, director of the Writing Center at Augustana, entered Chol’s essay in a competition sponsored by the College Survival subdivision of Houghton Mifflin, one of the leading educational publishers in the U.S. How Do You Define Success? was the theme for this year’s competition.

“Augustana has entered the competition the last three years,” Dickinson said. “You can imagine our surprise when we received the call that our entrant this year had won.”

Chol enrolled in the Master Student Class taught by Dickinson. Although he struggles with written English, Chol was encouraged to enter the essay competition. Chol’s tutor and Dickinson helped with the proofreading and after several revisions the work was submitted.

In June, Dickinson and Chol will travel to Houghton Mifflin’s national conference in Nashville, Tenn. He is one of three winners nationwide to be recognized and awarded a $1,000 scholarship. The company received a total of 47 entries.

Chol is among the refugees know as “The Lost Boys of Sudan.” His parents were killed in Sudan’s civil war, he made his way to a refugee camp in Kenya, and came to the United States in 2001. He attended Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls prior to enrolling at Augustana. Chol works 16 hours a week in a grocery store. He devotes a lot of his time to studying and reading. He also speaks to groups about his ordeal and diversity.

“By involving myself with others, I have learned how to share the tools for success, and I have acquired that ability of being successful and teaching others how to overcome their obstacles.”