I got my assaulted computer back this afternoon, and got it running just in time for great news. I have to put it up on the blog, I told Maria, it was the first thing I thought of.

Eh K Pru has been accepted to the Albany Academy.

Eh K Pru Shee Wah is a poised, gracious and extremely bright young woman. She is 13 years old and spent 10 of those years in a United Nations refugee camp, she and her family fled the religious persecutions in Myanmar, and narrowly escaped.

Her life took a dramatic turn this week,  the Albany Academy is one of the most prestigious private schools in the Northeast. She is the first gifted refugee girl to be accepted into a private school under the new program I began last Fall.

I intend to help get some of these academically talented refugee kids into excellent schools at the recommendation of the dedicated public school teachers in the Albany School system.

Everyone involved wishes she could remain in the public system, but the public schools in Albany are underfunded and overcrowded. The gifted refugee children need special care and that it’s difficult for the public schools to provide.

I spent  months dealing with the school bureaucracy to find and talk to a teacher who could help me identity the most outstanding of these many talented students, and when I found Kathy Saso, a middle school and ESL (English As Second Language) teacher at the Hackett Middle School – the refugee organizations in Albany would not even speak to me – things began to happen.

Kathy jumped at the chance, when a guidance counselor relayed my plea for help, she called me instantly. It is a gift to see her with her students, her class size is enormous, she has great control of her students and great rapport with them.

Kathy was thrilled to work with me, and to support this work. She teaches refugee children every day and understands their issues and needs. From the first, she urged me to help Eh K Pru. It only took a few minutes to convince me, she is impressive.

It took a lot of phone calls (thank God I was a reporter) to find the right teacher, but Kathy is pure gold, and has a heart of gold as well.

Kathy introduced me to Eh K Pru, we met at her school.

By then,  I made my rounds of some of the best private schools in the area. She is very special, remarkably smart, hard-working, positive and gracious.

Two or three schools in the area are interested in this program, the Albany Academy was the first to jump on it, Christopher Lauricella, the HeadMaster, and Bramble Buran, the Director of Admissions, met with me and Alex Boggess, a senior at the school who has made this part of his senior school project.

Chris wants the academy to be more diverse. He was supportive of this idea from the first.

Kathy and I are meeting with officials at Emma Willard in Troy in a couple of weeks. They have a huge endowment, we hope there is some money left over for other students like Eh K Pru.

If Eh K Pru needs money – she will surely need some –  Alex will work with me and the Army Of Good and our blogs and school families and private donors to help raise it.

I plan to do this every year, I feel this is the most effective and rational way to help the refugee families.

Kathy who has several different jobs and works almost unimaginable hours, worked hard to help Eh K Pru fill out her applications and guide her through the process. Tomorrow, she wants me to meet a young student from Afghanistan, she says he is extraordinary and we are prepared to work with him as well. I’m going to see him tomorrow when school gets out.

The school has offered Eh K Pru a generous scholarship, in excess of $21,000.

But the full tuition is higher, there is a gap of at least several thousand dollars, I’m not certain yet just how much. There is a $1,000 admission fee upon her acceptance, due April 10. We’re planning a meeting to see how much we need and talk about how we are going to raise it.

This is a thrilling moment for me. What an honor to help this extraordinary child reach out for her  dreams, which are quite beautiful.

I am in awe of people who do this, it takes a lot of work and there is much resistance, lots of obstacles.  I never expected to be one of them, I wouldn’t think I have the temperament for it.  Dealing with bureaucracies like non-profits and schools is not my favorite thing.

It’s kind of addictive, I find. Once you do it, it’s almost impossible to stop. I’m not going to give the group a formal name, or formalize it. I’m just going to do it.

We can change a life here, and it isn’t easy to do that. I can’t really capture how good it feels. Kathy says Eh K Pru is filled, and her parents – her father repairs windows in this country – are excited for her. They great value education.

And as Maria points out, I am willful and not easily deterred. I guess that is so, I would probably be dead if I weren’t. This could never have happened without Kathy Saso, she is an angel, underpaid, overworked, and completely dedicated to her students.

I’m  going to meet Eh K Pru again tomorrow, after I meet Noosul. I’m also going to meet her family next week. We plan to celebrate. I thank you for following this work, and as always, for your support.