April 2025
2024 Emory Alum and Religion Major Marwah (Mari) Ismail was recently the focus of an Emory News Center article after receiving the much-coveted 2025 Soros Fellowship, a grant that will support her studies at Columbia Law School.
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans is awarded annually to a select 30 grad students, narrowed down from around 2000 applicants nationwide. As Emory’s article explains, “The Fellowship awards immigrants, or the children of immigrants,” with the “potential to make significant contributions to U.S. culture and society.”
Arriving at Emory on a QuestBridge Scholarship, an award for high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds, Mari soon co-created the Kappa Alpha Pi pre-law fraternity and served as a Congressional Council judge for the Student Government Association. While minoring in Italian Studies, she completed Honors with Highest Honors for her thesis: Shaping Somali Society: The Impact of the Somali Civil War Religious Adherence and Identity and received the 2024 Eugene Bianchi Prize in Religion for undergraduate Religion majors who demonstrate outstanding service to the community. Later, she interned under Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and US Representative Hakeem Jeffries.
She maintained her studies locally and abroad all while undergoing chemotherapy and hospital stays. Incredibly, Mari refused to let cancer interrupt her studies.
Mari’s indominable drive and her journey at Emory should be an inspiration to anyone pursuing higher education while negotiating adversity and real-life obstacles. You can read the original article here.
You can also watch Mari’s 2024 TEDxEmory talk here.