CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio —Ganesh Pradhan remembers the day he moved to the United States.

  • An after school program at Noble Elementary School in Cleveland Heights helps students have access to math and science-based activities
  • Several of the students are from Nepal 
  • The program was started in part, to support students from Bhutan and Nepal academically, and socially through interactions with their American born classmates

“I moved here in 2011, August 3rd,” Pradhan said.

Pradhan says he has met Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R), who recently announced that Ohio will continue to accept refugees who come to the U.S. because they are fleeing violence and persecution in their own countries. 

“I got evicted form Bhutan government, so we left our country, property there, and I spent 19 years in Nepal, in a Bhutanese refugee camp with support of government agencies,” said Pradhan. 

He now has a full-time job in downtown Cleveland.  He also works with the Bhutanese Community of Greater Cleveland, an organization that helps immigrants and refugees.

Many of the refugees live in Cleveland Heights, where the school district has a program geared towards refugee children. 

Tiffany Rowan is the coordinator for “Noble Stream,” an afterschool program at Noble Elementary School in Cleveland Heights.

All of these young students have access to the math and science-based activities.

Several of Rowan's students are from Nepal.   

“I got to experience a new culture. This was a new time I experienced a culture that I had never knew anything about before, so it was a really good experience for me and I’m continuing to learn about it like daily,” said Rowan. 

Rowan says Noble Stream, in its fifth year, was started, in part, to support students from Bhutan and Nepal academically — and socially, through interactions with their American born classmates. 

“Because a lot of the parents just felt like we don’t really know anybody, we don’t know the language and so it’s a great way to just kind of bridge that gap and let everybody feel a part,” said Rowan. 

And bringing students together.

“Just to see the kids interact and people that aren’t friends become friends, and people that don’t know each other become acquainted, it’s very wonderful to see,” said Desmond Gregory, Noble Stream. 

Refugee families are welcomed to an Ohio community where they learn and grow.