MHS Student Wins $90,000 Scholarship

Qing Ge is from Tibet, and her given name, the name she loves, is Pema Lhazom. Qing  Ge is her Chinese name, the one she had to use, the one that is on her green card. And on her scholarship applications.

And so, though her real name means the world to her, she will put it aside for now, because it’s important not to endanger her status here. Not to get in trouble. Not to confuse things.

And though she is only 20, and has only been in this country for 2 ½ years, she sees a clear path to her goals.

THAT CLARITY is one of the attributes that helped Qing Ge win the prestigious $90,000 “Day of Pride” scholarship from the University of Connecticut. It’s a scholarship that will pay for her tuition, fees, and room and board for all four years of college.

A sharp intelligence is another of the attributes that helped her. She is a member of the National Honor Society, on the distinguished honor roll, and is seventh in her class of 190 seniors.

“I love this school,” she says. “It’s not very large. It’s comfortable. The teachers are nice. They are very passionate. I also like the ESL program,” she says.

She is articulate and polite. And her energy – shown in part in her ongoing dedication to community service – is surely another reason she won this huge honor.

Ge and her mother left Tibet because, she says, her mother got into political hot water with the Chinese, who occupy Tibet.

“The compassion of the American government brought me here as a refugee,” she says.

Her mother works at Mohegan Sun, in housekeeping, and it is a job she enjoys. Qing Ge’s father and sister, grandmother, aunt, uncle and one cousin all remain in Tibet.

HERE, IN ADDITION TO STUDYING, belonging to the Key Club, the International Club, student government and the math team, Qing Ge has more than 200 hours of community service work. She tutors math, English and manners to pupils at Mohegan and the Dr. Charles E. Murphy elementary schools. She works in a nursing home in Norwich. She tutors in the ESL program and helps her teachers with lab preparation. She also does translation work for Tibetan and Chinese people in Montville. And last summer, she visited New York with Students for Free Tibet, and did grassroots organizing involving the United Nations.

“I think it’s important to contribute to my new country with community service,” she says. “I think that’s my responsibility.”

QING GE DOESN'T KNOW YET what she would like to do with her life. She is approaching college with an open mind, willing to see what interests her, and where her skills and passions are. She likes physics, she says, but she is not committing to a career in physics.

She hopes, after graduation, that she can do something for Tibet, her homeland, “to help them stand up.”

And while it is reassuring for her to talk with other Tibetan students in Montville, and to remember the country where they were born, “I’m so glad to be here,” Qing Ge says.