Woman who escaped Ukraine-Russia war now studying at Fresno City College

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- This semester, Fresno City College welcomed its largest incoming people of planetary students.

Olivia Taiwo is 1 of them.

She says she's had her vocation way picked retired for years.

"My imagination was to survey medicine since precocious school," Olivia said.

Originally from Nigeria, she graduated precocious school, tested well, and got into a programme successful Ukraine successful 2019.

She studied determination until the pandemic deed and past courses shifted online.

They remained online done 2021 and 2022 and then, the warfare betwixt Ukraine and Russia broke out.

"We kept proceeding the bombs and everything, truthful it was scary. That was frightening to a batch of people," Olivia said.

She had to navigate getting retired of the state connected her own.

She says determination were days without structure and without net oregon compartment telephone service.

"Just experiencing that unsocial and conscionable having my parents connected the different broadside of the telephone was hard too," Olivia said.

She yet made it retired and moved to Germany, past Poland.

But with classes inactive lone online, she decided to spot what different options were disposable to proceed her education.

That's erstwhile she recovered Fresno City College's nursing program, applied and got in.

Director of International Students Daniel Tamayo says FCC has a robust International Student Program.

"We admit arsenic an instauration that there's worth to big planetary students present connected field truthful that our section students are exposed to a antithetic perspective, a planetary perspective," Tamayo said.

Currently, determination are much than 100 planetary students from much than 24 countries and 5 continents.

This spring, they had the largest incoming people with 28 caller students.

Tamayo says FCC hosts a two-day predisposition erstwhile students get to guarantee they're acceptable up for occurrence with lodging and enrollment.

"We privation to guarantee that erstwhile students get here, that they are palmy academically, emotionally, socially."

Olivia says she's been enjoying her archetypal clip successful California and has been adjusting to beingness present well.

"It's large present -- I've met people, learned astir antithetic things present and however things enactment present too," she said.

Olivia's communicative isn't the lone 1 present astatine Fresno City.

There's besides a French hoops subordinate and a Brazilian shot player, each coming with their ain inheritance and civilization arsenic they prosecute higher education.

For quality updates, travel Jessica Harrington connected Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.