LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ivona Nijimbere is proof that big things can come in small packages. She's only 4'9" but this dynamic senior from Louisville's Central High School has been a high achiever her entire life.
It's a life that started in trying circumstances -- she was born in a refugee camp in Tanzania after her parents fled Rwanda to escape the genocide there. She moved to Louisville as a three-year-old, saying, "I don't really remember much as a child, but I do know that my parents came here with nothing and they turned nothing into something and here I am today."
She's made the most of her opportunities here, compiling a 4.0 GPA at Central as well as being the captain and Most Valuable Player of the school soccer team. She's in the National Honor Society, the Beta Club, founded the African Students Association and is on the Advisory Council of Racial Equity for Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS). She also advanced to the national level of the "Aspen Challenge" after her team worked on local solutions to the issue of police brutality.
 EDIT)
Then there's her charitable work. Longtime family and church friend Alicia Bloos said, "I think she realizes that she's been on the receiving end and so she wants to give."
That giving includes multiple mission trips through her church as well as volunteering at Habitat for Humanity, Cedar Ridge Camp, the Affordable Health Care Act Health Fair, the Americana Community Center and the Whitney Young Elementary Peer Tutoring Program. But she's most proud of a personal initiative, saying, "the highlight one for me is my own project that I started. It was a woman empowerment project where I took purses and filled them with essential needs for homeless women."
She'll take that attitude of service to Berea College this Fall — the first member of her family to go to college. She'll major in Nursing and minor in Human Health Performance, with a goal of being a Orthopedic Nurse Practitioner. Bloos says her potential is "limitless."
Ivona says her family's journey has had bumps in the road, but fighting those challenges has made her mature beyond her years. She has advice for others who face struggles: "Adversity does happen and change is part of growth, but you can never let your past define your future. I know that life isn't easy but it's you who shapes the life that you want for yourself. And don't give up. Cause that's definitely what I won't do. I'm gonna keep going."
She'll keep going with a $1,000 college scholarship as a deserving winner of the Spectrum News 1 High School Scholar contest.