Rally for Andjela

Meet Andjela Dejanovic.  She is a promising young woman that has overcome enormous obstacles to realize her life long dream of attending college in the United States.  Andjela is an international student from Serbia studying at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) with only three semesters left to achieve her Bachelor of Science in Accounting.  She holds a 4.0 grade point average with English as a second language.  Everything she has accomplished is due to her independent spirit, self motivation, discipline and unwavering resolve.  If you've spent time playing tennis in Oak Park River Forest in the past year, you've probably met Andjela.  She stands out because of her warmth and easy-going manner.  But beneath that smile that lights up the tennis court, Andjela has been hiding her stress and fear over not being allowed to remain in the United States long enough to finish her college degree.

Last fall Andjela found the perfect fit in UIC.  With a careful plan in place, she had chosen her school, her curriculum and her schedule based on her ability to get the best education within her own personal means.  Halfway through the semester, she was notified from the University that her tuition level was mistakenly priced due to confusion over her type of international student visa.  As a result, tuition would double and she would need to prove that she had financial resources available immediately or be at risk of being deported. 

That’s where you come in.  We need your help!  We need to fill the financial gap.

Please join our Oak Park/River Forest tennis community in rallying for Andjela!   Let’s create a stable financial environment that will enable her to finish the remaining semesters and achieve her well deserved degree.  Andjela is a worthy investment.  In the attached essay, written in her own words, you will get a personal account of her impressive journey.

Andjela’s Story.  Growing up in Serbia was an experience that I wouldn’t change for anything in this world. At a very young age I realized I was a bit different than my peers. My father was big on discipline, so I didn’t have a lot of free time to spend on doing kids stuff. My days were fully packed with tennis, school, family time, and a lot of lessons on learning how to speak, read and write English. The little available time I had, I would dedicate to doing mathematics and solving problems. Skipping grades or classes is not a thing in Serbia, but I vividly remember how I would make it a priority to go over my assigned math book before every school year started. I was always eager to learn more, and solving equations was something that not only intrigued me, but also made me feel calm and happy. Natural sciences came easy to me, but picking up a new language was more my sister’s thing. In order to learn English, my dad would let us watch all of the Disney movies, but we couldn’t have subtitles. When we could speak it somewhat properly, he let us re-watch the movies but this time they would be muted and we would have to read the subtitles to know what was going on. To learn how to spell, I would copy pages and pages of different books, including my favorites “The Catcher in the Rye”, and “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Along with my knowledge and my outstanding grades, I always felt like I was at least two steps ahead of my peers. No matter how much I love Serbia, I knew from an early age that it doesn’t have the opportunities and resources I need to make something extraordinary of myself. This motivated me to work harder than I otherwise would have to get out of my country and come to America.

Picking up tennis at the age of four has been one of the greatest things that happened to me. It shaped me into the person I am today, and it gave me the opportunity to attend college in the United States. Coming from a poor country, I knew that the only way I could afford my education was through a full tennis scholarship. When times were tough in Serbia, when my family was scraping for food and bills and had barely enough to get by, it didn’t discourage me from continuing to follow my dream. I would find a wall to hit against and practice my shots, and I would study free versions of the SAT that I could find online. When the time came for me to shine, I did exactly so. With the combination of my SAT and TOEFL scores, as well as my tennis skills, I got offers from a lot of different schools. Due to the lack of financial resources and my poor understanding of the educational system in the US, I decided to go to Chicago State University, located at the heart of Chicago’s South Side. I do not regret my decision because it gave me an insight about a lot of things that I was unaware of, especially things I learned from the surrounding African-American community, and it also made me a lot tougher than I had ever dreamt of becoming. One thing I did find unsatisfying at the school was the fact that I did not feel academically challenged, which in return made me lose interest and focus in my classes. Learning was one of the main reasons I came to America in the first place, but I realized I wasn’t going to do it there. Wanting a change and knowing I could accomplish more given the right resources, I decided to transfer to a small fundamentalist Christian college in California - although I didn’t quite grasp what this meant at the time. I took a semester off to work and be able to support myself during the transfer process and my future life on the West Coast. I finally ended up at Hope International University this January, and as soon as I got there I realized it wasn’t the right fit for me. It is a nice school, but I definitely regretted my decision to leave Chicago. From being accepted to Syracuse University, Loyola (Chicago) University, Brown University, Fordham University, to settle for a school like that was a mistake even if it seemed necessary and logical at the time. Partly because of COVID19, and partly because of people I’ve met this summer who advised, encouraged, and influenced me, I have come to realize that life is an amazing gift if you can fight your way through a period when your position seems very fragile and forces you to go from day to day just surviving and not living to the fullest. I want to be challenged. I want to feel like I am in the right place to grow as a person. I want to make something of myself. I also want to be able to do things to make the world a better place. When I got accepted to University of Illinois at Chicago this fall, for the first time I felt like it was the home I’ve been searching for and is the right school to set me on the course to all the things I want to do. Financial resources have been the biggest reason for my school choices in the past. This year I decided I was done settling. My path was definitely not paved for me, but I am prepared to fight for these things and do whatever I have to in order to achieve the success and make the contribution to the world that I know are within my reach.

Please help our Serbian girl achieve her long held American dream!  Donate today.