Dania Shoukfeh

I was born in Dubai in the United Arab Emerites but my family moved to Iowa when I was a year old. At age 8, we came to Madison, Wisconsin and I have lived here ever since with my parents and three siblings. Growing up with one working parent was difficult and being the oldest, I often had to look after my youngest siblings. I spent a lot of time at home to help with the housework especially when my mom started working part-time at a local elementary school so I wasn't able to get involved in a lot of extracurricular activities. I went to Memorial High School and graduated in 2012. Currently, I am serving as a teacher in Milwaukee through Teach for America after graduating from UW Madison with a major Communicative Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Environmental Sustainability. I am in the Muslims Students Association and I volunteer at the Lussier Family Education Center. I hope to attend graduate school for speech pathology in the future. My goal is to work as a speech pathologist in low income schools either here in America or overseas with disadvantaged students where I can help make a difference in their day to day lives and a positive impact on their learning. 

The Arndt Family scholarship has opened so many doors for me here at UW Madison that I would not have gotten at any other University. Although classes do get challenging, I am so humbled to be able to receive my education from this amazing university. I got a chance to be part of the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, got a chance to work at the Waisman Center and became a student representative at the Multicultural Student Center all because of this scholarship. I am able to volunteer my time at a local school and food pantry and give back to the community that has served me so much over the years and I am able to stay at home and continue to help my family and work over the summer. I am so humbled to be an Arndt Family Scholar and blessed to have so much support.