Finding SucceSS:

Farahnaz and Suyhalla Nazary escaped the Taliban. At Bayless, they have found a place to thrive.

Mr. Stephen Terrill, Marketing and Communications Coordinator

When speaking to them, it is hard to tell Farahnaz and Suyhalla Nazary have only been in America for a little over a year.

They are doing well in their classes, have college plans and Farahnaz is applying to speak at graduation. They always have a friendly greeting and love to connect with their teachers and peers.

All of that would have been unthinkable at the beginning of 2022.

At the time, Farahanaz and Suyhalla were still living in their hometown of Kabul, Afghanistan, which was firmly under the control of the Taliban.

“It was impossible — we were not safe, we didn’t have access to education, we don’t have freedom,” Farahnaz said.

While not all of the exact actions the Taliban have taken since seizing Afghanistan are known, women face intense oppression. Formal education is not an option for the millions of girls there, along with many other restrictions.

In early 2022, Farahnaz and Suyhalla Nazary, along with their mother and brother, fled Kabul and came to the United States. They ended up in St. Louis, where there is a growing population of Afghan families who have fled violence and strife in their country. Bayless currently has over 50 students from Afghanistan and has participated in a state grant program to help resettle them.

With an interrupted education and all of the classes taught in an unfamiliar language, school was difficult for Farahnaz and Suyhalla.

“When we came (to Bayless), my English was not good,” Farahnaz said. “I couldn’t speak fluently — and that was really hard to say something in English.”

“My (first) few days of school was very, very hard for me,” Suyhalla said.

Despite that, they were committed to taking advantage of the opportunities provided to them here and doing it together.

“I think it was easy to have (Suyhalla) with me, and we try together to do our best,” Farahnaz said.

After a hard adjustment period, their momentum started to come together at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. Their English improved rapidly to levels where it was easy to converse with English speakers. Their hard work in other subjects began to show.

“This year they’ve done amazing back in Algebra I,” math teacher and curriculum chair Sarah Olson said. “They’re turning in all their assignments, they’re doing extremely well on their assessments, and they’ll even ask to go to the board to teach.”

The growth has been stunning — Farahnaz jumped over six grade levels in her math testing scores from August to January.

“Never in my 11 years have I seen a student grow 112 points,” Olson said.

The sisters’ teachers quickly discovered their intense drive and desire to learn.

“They are a wealth of information about things, and when they don’t know something — they want to know,” English Language Learner teacher and newcomer specialist Tiffany Maloney said. “They are constantly in a state of ‘tell me more,’ ‘how do you say that,’ ‘what does that mean.’”

Their vast knowledge base is something that has helped other ELL students. This semester, several students who speak Pashayi, which is related to the sisters’ native language of Pashtu, came to BHS. Farahnaz and Suyhalla have been able to communicate with the new students and help their teachers do the same.

“They are leaders in the classroom,” Maloney said. “It’s been great having them.”

The drive to learn will carry them past high school next fall. Both will attend St. Louis Community College as their first step in higher education.

Across Bayless, the story of Farahnaz and Suyhalla has played out many times in individual lives going back to the first Bosnian refugees in the 1990s.

“It’s really rewarding to see successful stories like this,” ELL Coordinator Monika Hasanbasic, who was a refugee herself, said. “Not only them — we have so many. They’ve been through so much just to get here. For them to have the opportunity to live the American dream is priceless.”