New York, January 18, 2007–In his State of City address on January 17, 2006, Mayor Bloomberg honored Chime Dolma, a Tibetan high school junior in Brooklyn, as an example of excellence, pointing out that she “fled political persecution in her native Tibet four years ago and started school for the first time ever when she arrived here at age 13.”
“Now a junior, she is an `A’ student, a school leader and her principal says that she is `as college-bound as it gets’. I’d like her to stand, along with her principal, Alexandra Anormaliza and one of her teachers, Danny Walsh. Congratulations to all of you and keep up the good work,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
Accolades have come Chime’s way several times in her three years of academic life.
On June 22, 2005, New York’s Daily News named her for its inaugural “Class Acts Awards”. She was then selected as one of New York’s top five students, who had gone beyond the ordinary to achieve success and become “an inspiration to all of us”.
Chime arrived in the United States in 2003, having escaped from Tibet in 2000.
When she first went to school in Brooklyn, Chime could neither read, nor write in English; she had never been to school in Tibet.
However, she soon developed an intense passion for reading, and was deeply motivated by her appreciation of the precious educational opportunity the US afforded her.
In just two years, Chime became one of the top students in her school, earning the admiration of friends and teachers alike.
In an interview with the Daily News, Chime’s teacher and mentor, Monika Watabe, spoke highly of Chime’s motivation and drive to make the most of the opportunity for which she had to wait till her teenage.
“How many times can I say `motivated’ in the same sentence to describe her?” the News quoted teacher Monika Watanabe as saying.
“She has that engine inside of her that is constantly on the go.”
“Chime regularly stays after school, reading, talking with her teachers and meticulously completing homework.”
“Chime also has blossomed into a student leader. She tutors other immigrant students who, like her, are late readers. In the spring, she was one of the 15 students chosen for the rigorous Asian American Student Advocacy Project. She studied issues facing Asian students and lobbied for more services for immigrant children.”
Chime told the Daily News that she hoped to “become a doctor, perhaps an obstetrician, so that she can help women like her late mother. She also dreams of opening a clinic in Tibet”.
