AROUND FVTC
From Afghanistan to the Fox Valley
Mohammad Ashrof Azimy (right) and his classmates in February 2022.
Improving English skills helps refugees adjust to life in America. Mohammad Ashrof Azimy was a dentist in Afghanistan. He trained at the Kabul Medical University and has five years of experience working in a hospital setting. Then in August 2021, he fled his home country during the final weeks of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. In September 2021, Mohammad was one of the 76,000 Afghan citizens arriving in the U.S., and now at 30 years old is settling into his new life in Menasha. “I want to be a licensed doctor again, and enroll in a dental program in America,” he says. In January 2022, he started taking advanced-level English classes at Fox Valley Technical College. He attends class two days a week at the Appleton campus. About 90 Afghan refugees are enrolled in FVTC’s English Language Learning (ELL) classes this semester. Classes are offered both online and face-to-face, and focus on reading,
writing, speaking, presentation, and career skills through English language immersion. Workplace communication is also included. Refugees are referred to FVTC for classes by the humanitarian organization World Relief Fox Valley, which works with them to meet their other needs, such as housing, healthcare and more. Mohammad appreciates his teachers’ patient and thorough manner. “I am learning a lot. They are great teachers,” he says.
• • • Learn more: www.fvtc.edu/LearnEnglish
Partnership Expansion
Agreement creates new educational opportunities for FVTC students. Fox Valley Technical College and Lakeland University have entered a partnership expansion that will bring the two colleges together under one roof. With the agreement, Lakeland University is moving from its current Fox Cities Center to FVTC’s Appleton campus. In addition to a dedicated area for classes, Lakeland will also have an office presence on campus and utilize other campus services. Dr. Chris Matheny, president of FVTC points out that the shared space agreement is a natural extension of articulation agreements already in place between the two colleges. “Having a trusted partner like Lakeland on our campus provides the opportunity for a student to start here and then seamlessly transition to a bachelor’s degree and beyond in a place they know and are comfortable with.” Over the last two and a half academic years, Lakeland University has had 633 students attend classes through its Fox Cities Center and 227 of those students were graduates of Fox Valley Tech. Lakeland expects to start classes on the FVTC campus during the fall ’22 semester.
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www.fvtc.edu Fox Valley Technical College
