Ferhan's family and over a million other ethnic Kurds fled Iraq and Saddam Hussein's army after the Gulf War in 1991. Before that, the Iraqi military would regularly raid the Kurdish villages.

"They would burn down our house, then my father would rebuild it, then they would burn it down again," Ferhan says.

"Refugee kids also have special needs, because they are still dealing with the trauma of what happened before they got to America," says Community Services Manager Illene Harris. "When they first come to the Study Central, they don't laugh, they don't even smile. Ferhan has come a long, long way."

Because of his achievements, Ferhan was recently awarded the Kerry Ogden Memorial Scholarship. Ogden, who started as a Study Central volunteer and then became a part-time staff member, is remembered as a dedicated mentor who took the extra time to help kids new to America surmount language and cultural barriers, become part of the community, and achieve academically.

Money for the scholarship comes from the "Gifts of the Garden" South Kitsap Garden Tour, developed as one of the ways to diversify funding for KCCHA's community service programs as federal and state grants dry up.

"It's not much money considering all the schooling he will need to become doctor, but he deserves every penny," Harris says. "His family came here with nothing, and it continues to be a struggle to make ends meet, so he's going to need financial help.

"But whatever Ferhan puts his mind to, he does it-he's an exceptional young man."

His reasons for becoming a doctor are exceptional too.

"In Turkey, we saw people get sick and die all around us," Ferhan says. "But there were no doctors, no one to help them.

"People helped me to get here. I want to do the same thing."
 

Accepted at prestigious Brown University, Alexis has come a long way since joining KCCHA's Summer Adventures program in 1996. She then "graduated" to the Teen Challenge program, a national award winner designed to create a sense of community and self worth.