June 21, 2025

Kjell de Graaf’s Path: From the Netherlands to an American U.S. College Basketball ScholarshipKjell de Graaf, a young basketball player in Rotterdam, Netherlands, had always dreamed of competing at the collegiate level in the United States. At 6 feet 10 inches tall, he was dedicated to working his way to a scholarship so that it could be his best opportunity to play at a high level while attending school. “Other than going pro, college hoops is the next highest level at which you can play and still study—and that meant a great deal to me,” de Graaf says. “After a difficult and long road, I was finally able to…

Carl Morel’s Mental Health Experience Carl Morel, a pre-med biology student at Kentucky’s Berea College, indicates that growing up back home in Cameroon, mental health wasn’t really discussed. In fact, if the subject was brought up, those individuals were often ridiculed and viewed as being weak. Now, as a foreign student away from home, he’s in a whole new learning and social setting, and it can be challenging in different ways for different students. That’s why it’s so crucial for students like him to understand what type of assistance is out there when they need it. The initial months of college were extremely difficult,” Morel explains. “I had to cope with the stress of my coursework, transition to an entirely new culture, and be on my own for the first time—all of…