For Nyibol Chol, 18, the current political environment is fuel to build a community that unapologetically welcomes immigrants and refugees.
While juggling her schoolwork and part-time job, Nyibol (knee-BOL) spends her free time cold-calling local businesses, charities, and law offices to support a project she’s passionate about: a scholarship geared towards first-generation, immigrant, and refugee students.
She played an integral role last year in raising $15,000 for the scholarship offered by RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Student Embassy), a student-led group at Valley High School in West Des Moines. This year, as president of the scholarship and a member of the fundraising committee, her goal is to help raise $30,000. She's being honored with our Robert Mannheimer Youth Advocacy Award for these efforts.
“All students deserve to have opportunities after high school,” she said. “I know people who moved schools to avoid their parents being deported. I know people who gave up after-school activities, like sports, to work and help their families. The political environment is taking away the chance for kids to be kids.”
The issue is close to Nyibol’s heart, who is an immigrant and refugee herself.
Her family is originally from South Sudan, but fled to Kenya as refugees, where she was born in 2007. Nyibol came to America when she was 6. She struggled to fit into her new home.
“I remember hiding parts of myself to be accepted by others,” she said.
That changed once she started high school and joined RISE. The group is meant to uplift the voices of students through college visits, mentorship opportunities, study nights, and a cultural food drive. Valley High School will soon offer a new World Language and Culture Studies course next year after RISE members organized to make it happen.
“Being around other students who have the same background has really helped me be more comfortable with being an immigrant and refugee,” Nyibol said. “I used to hide it. Now I’m more open.”
This newfound comfort with her identity also led her to speak at the 2025 Refugee Alliance of Central Iowa Statewide Refugee Summit about the importance of accommodating the identities of students, rather than forcing them to assimilate.
Nyibol hopes to major in education or political science and eventually become the Secretary of Education or a federal judge.
“My mom and dad didn’t have the opportunity to go to school, so that’s one of my main drivers,” she said. “With an education, anyone can change the fabric of our nation for the better.”
The ACLU of Iowa Robert Mannheimer Youth Advocacy Award is a $500 cash prize given to a young Iowan aged 14 to 19 who has demonstrated a passion and advocacy for civil liberties. It is named as a memorial to Des Moines attorney and civil liberties advocate Robert Mannheimer.
For more information on the Robert Mannheimer Award, click here.
