ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — The last week of school is more fun than anything at Alleman High School.
The seniors play games and reflect on their last few days before they graduate, but for student Carol Alkhouri, life wasn't always this easy.
"It was actually around third grade when war started over there, so we had to move over here," she said.
Alkhouri is from Syria and is talking about the country's Civil War, that started in March of 2011. By April of 2012, Alkhouri was in the United States and knew very little English at just nine years old. She compared it to a freshman who's fluent in English, trying to take a Spanish class for the very first time.
"I remember in the classroom, I just never really knew what was going on," Alkhouri said. "At home I really had to pick it up and try to learn the language and get used to the new culture that I was settling into."
Slowly but surely, she got used to it, and by the time she got to high school, she was flourishing. She was on the cheerleading team for the high school. She was also a part of Alleman's Dance Marathon, where the students raise money for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital.
"It was really nice to just come to a fun event and just raise money for the kids at the same time," she said of the marathon.
SOAR stands for Strength, Optimism, Achievement and Resolve. The reasons above are why she is winning a $5,000 scholarship thanks to The Sedona Group.
Alkhouri is going to St. Ambrose University in the fall and hopes to one day be a lawyer or judge.
"I just saw so much injustice to people and just harsh circumstances all around," she said. "Moving here, I knew I could get into a career where I could help others, and law's something I've always been interested in, so just knowing that I could have a career where I could bring justice to other people or do good to someone who's in a really tough situation is something I want to be able to do someway."
Alkhouri was also secretary of the high school's National Honor Society this year, which she says motivated her to get a weighted GPA of 4.2.