Ashis Dhakal, 2021 Significant Challenge College Scholarship First Place Recipient
Ashis Dhakal, a senior from Salt Lake City, made difficult decisions alongside his family to escape poverty and illness, and pursue a better life. Relocating as a refugee was challenging as he faced inequity in a Nepali refugee camp, with limited access to basic needs. Motivated by his own experiences and to uphold his value of service, Ashis decided it was his mission to make a difference in the lives of those affected by extreme poverty. Richie’s Spirit Foundation recognizes Ashis Dhakal as the First Place Winner of the 2021 Significant Challenge Scholarship!
After fleeing from Bhutan due to ethnic cleansing, Ashis and his family lived in a refugee camp with minimal access to clean water, food, education, or medical care. They had no choice but to immigrate to a foreign country for new opportunities. In the United States, Ashis’s new life stood in contrast to that of the refugee camp, with ready access to food and education. Ashis explains, it was like two different worlds where he felt “shocked to see food wasted and surprised that students did not understand the value of their free education.”
Despite his struggle to adjust to a new environment, learn a new language, and support a loved one battling cancer, Ashis felt motivated to give back to those in need. He shares in his award-winning essay, “[d]riven by my aspiration to help others, I also created a nonprofit foundation called Ashis Collects Clothes… to help the homeless, cancer patients, and kids with congenital disorders gain adequate resources in developing countries like Nepal.” Since its founding, his nonprofit organization has assisted more than 10,000 people in poverty across the U.S. and Nepal.
Ashis's dedication to his studies goes beyond earning a degree. He views higher education as a stepping stone to continue his mission of helping others in the medical field. His advisor shares, “[h]e is a positive, persistent performer, and his community is so much better for it… service is a deep-rooted, core value for [Ashis] that he lives literally every day of his life.”
Richie’s Spirit foundation congratulates Ashis Dhakal for being selected as the First Place winner of the 2021 Significant Challenge Scholarship! He will receive a $3,000 scholarship to support his studies in biomedical engineering at the University of Utah this Fall!