2025 Award Recipient
SophiaRothman
Project Refugee Can Be: Tutoring Program
Project Refugee Can Be: Tutoring Program
Sophia co-founded a virtual tutoring program within an organization called Refugee Can Be, whose mission is to educate and empower refugee girls in Rwamwanja Settlement, Uganda. She has recruited over 50 volunteer tutors at her Los Angeles high school to teach English language and literacy over Zoom to girls in Uganda.
Sophia entered middle school looking for opportunities to advocate for girls’ education. When she found none, she first created a school club called Let Girls Learn, which hosted a fundraiser in 2020 to support the schooling of refugee girls. Through this fundraiser, Sophia met the founder of Refugee Can Be, who herself had grown up in a refugee camp and was setting out to build a girls’ school there.
The school would take a long time to build, but Sophia was inspired to help right away. She suggested starting a tutoring program as a project of Refugee Can Be, taught over Zoom by volunteers at Sophia’s own high school.
Sophia worked with Refugee Can Be to develop a literacy curriculum and recruited volunteer tutors to host weekly sessions with girls at the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement. In addition to running the program, which has reached 40 Ugandan girls, Sophia organizes fundraising drives to procure school supplies, feminine products, and meals for program participants.
A program to educate and empower refugee girls from Rwamwanja Settlement, Uganda, through virtual tutoring in literacy and English language.
