Afghan refugee Samiullah Luddin, a senior at Annandale High School, did not have the easiest path to graduation.

Samiullah — whose family left Afghanistan after his father survived being kidnapped by the Taliban and detained for months — began his American public school experience in 2020. He showed up to school for the first time in the U.S. to pick up a laptop, ready to embark on virtual learning like students across the country during the early days of the pandemic.

Samiullah recalled thinking, “I’m nervous, how will I pass all my classes? I’m trying to learn English and I don’t even know how to use a computer, how is this gonna work?”

Samiullah, supported by friends, family, and dedicated teachers, made it work. 

First, he mastered virtual learning on a laptop computer. Then, he and his siblings were the first students to enter their school building to resume in-person learning in 2021, embracing an early return option for multilingual students. They eagerly signed up for summer school that year as well.

“Anything the district provided, Samiullah made sure to take advantage of it,” Meredith Hedrick, Annandale’s department chair for multilingual education, said.

Outside of school, Samiullah turned the Dunya Club for refugee students into a place where kids from a variety of countries could play pick-up cricket — with equipment funded by a Community Foundation grant — and bond over the challenges of acclimating to a new culture. He climbed the ranks of the McDonalds’ employment ladder to become a manager, touting his work there — which started as a hash brown chef and led to working with customers — as helping improve his English skills.

Setting and Reaching His Goals

By May of this year, one obstacle stood between him and graduation: the Reading Standards of Learning (SOL) exam, which Samiullah had taken and failed 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 times.

His dad kept asking him if he’d passed yet., His friends began some good-natured teasing of him. “They definitely made fun of me. ‘C’mon Samiullah, how many more times?’” he said.

Samiullah told them, “When I pass, I’m going to take all of you to dinner.” This month he made good on the first promise, passing the test, and then plans to host 10 friends at his family’s home for a dinner of mantu (dumplings), palau (a rice, meat, and carrot dish) and chicken.

Samiullah acknowledges he thought of giving up along the way. He credits his teachers with not letting him do so at any point in his high school journey.

“At first in 2021, it was just five of us in math class in a trailer,” Samiullah said. “I was pretty nervous. Mr. Ramos told me to come to the board and solve the problem. I couldn’t solve the equation. My brother was saying ‘Get up Samiullah, do it, do it.’ Finally, I get up, and I say ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ Mr. Ramos helped me figure it out together.”

From that first day in an Annandale trailer classroom, to his SOL struggle this month, Samiullah says he found support when he needed it.

Tricia Kapuscinski, who teaches English to multilingual students, was there to support him during every one of the 14 SOL attempts. “She said, ‘You are going to do this. You will pass this SOL. You are going to graduate,’” he recalled. “I was so sad after my 13th try …  she just kept saying, ‘Don’t worry you’re gonna get it, trust me, you’re gonna get it.’”

On May 15, he finally did.

“I couldn’t sleep all night after taking the test because I was thinking, was this finally going to be my pass or would I fail again? When I got to school that morning, I went to the main office and I asked, ‘Did I pass or did I fail?’ They said, ‘Go ask Ms. Kapuscinski.’”

“I found her in the hallway, I asked ‘Did I pass?’ … she said, ‘YES you passed!’ and she gave me a hug.” A crowd of teachers and students surrounded Samiullah, jumping and cheering for him, Department Chair Hedrick said.

Perseverance and Drive

Kapuscinski says she’s proud of Samiullah for not giving up, but not surprised by his perseverance and drive.

She first met Samiullah during his virtual learning days.

“He was always there, always logged in. You could tell he was actually there behind the screen, engaged in learning. Samiullah was in for all of it, always,” Kapuscinski said. 

“He was one of four English language learner students who came to school at the first opportunity they were allowed back in the school during the pandemic. He has been committed from the beginning.”

Then their paths crossed again last year when Samiullah was enrolled in a level 2 English language class, a lower level course, she said.

“He said the first day of class, ‘This isn’t for me. I want to go to level 3. I know I can do it,’” Kapuscinski said. “We said this will be hard work, this will really be a push for you, but he did it.”

Kapuscinski didn’t have Samiullah in class this year, but they again worked together because part of her job is supporting students who need help to pass the SOLs.

Lifelong Lessons

On June 3, Samiullah, now a senior, will graduate from Annandale. He’ll walk the stage with plans to enroll at Northern Virginia Community College in the fall, where he’ll study business administration. Kapuscinski hopes he will think back on his SOL experience as he goes through life.

“The idea that he proved to himself that his hard work paid off, you can do hard things — he cared so much. He really was dedicated and wanted to make this happen, but he had to put in the time and effort,” she said. “I hope whatever challenge he has in the future, he thinks back on this and tells himself, ‘I am going to do it, I am working hard, putting in the effort, and it will pay off.’”

Read more about the Dunya Club (Dunya means “World” in Farsi)