On Campus: Meet Harper Grad Kanjiani Nasheman

Two years ago, Nasheman Kanjiani wasn’t just new to Harper College.

She was new to the United States.

Kanjiani, 19, moved to Arlington Heights from Pakistan in 2011 and enrolled as a student at Rolling Meadows High School. Since some of the credits she earned in Pakistan didn’t transfer, she faced a tough decision: spend another two years in high school or enroll in Harper College’s G.E.D. program to get rolling quickly on the college education she longed to pursue.

She chose the latter, and never looked back.

“I was still getting to know my environment,” Kanjiani said. “I was in this culture that I didn’t know much about. I wanted to go to college, but I wanted to stay close to home while I adjusted to the culture shock.”

Though fluent in English, Kanjiani wasn’t used to speaking the language regularly, and struggled for the first few months – until she Harper's award-winning Speech Team.  She competed in Program of Oral Interpretation and Prose Reading, making friends and coming out of her shell as part of the life-changing process.

"I’ve always been an extrovert, but when I moved here I became an introvert,” she said. “I would wonder, ‘Will they think I’m weird or awkward?’ Which I am, but now I own up to it.”

Kanjiani planned to study marketing, but changed her focus after attending Harper’s Major in Success workshop, a free program that helps students choose a major and link their classes to career goals. She’s now planning a major in psychology with a minor in communications when she transfers to North Central College in Naperville in the fall.

She has a long list of Harper faculty who helped inspire her on that journey -- from the Speech coaches to her Theatre professor -- making graduation day particularly bittersweet.

“I’m going to miss this place. The things I learned here I couldn’t have learned anywhere else,” she said. “At the same time, I’m happy to be taking another step towards my future.”