With Commencement this week, Schoolcraft College is showcasing the stories of several students walking during the upcoming ceremony. The next student is Homayra Adiba, who is graduating with an Associate in Fine Arts Degree.
Homayra Adiba had established herself well as a young adult in her native Bangladesh. She became an illustrious photographer, with her work being showcased around the world.
But then a calling came that changed her life forever: after 14 years of her family trying to immigrate to the United States, the invitation finally came.
So to support her family, she opted to travel with them to a new home, settling in metro Detroit and beginning a new life in a new place. It was a major culture shock.
“I had to pick up retail jobs, 2-3 jobs at a time. I was just working to support my family,” she said. “And that has been my life. I needed an out for that. I did not see any light at the end of the tunnel.”
That light has become Schoolcraft College. After hearing about the Michigan Reconnect program – a state initiative that pays for college for those eligible who are 21 or older – she applied and was approved. Living in Westland, she discovered Schoolcraft College had a stellar reputation for the arts, so she enrolled.
Given most of her schooling overseas did not transfer, Adiba essentially started over, enrolling in fine arts courses. After several years of study, she’ll walk the stage Saturday and receive an Associate of Fine Arts degree, as well as deliver the student reflection during the ceremony.
The president of the Phi Theta Kappa Omicron Iota Chapter, Adiba also became a co-founder of the WeConnect mentorship program, which aims to assist Michigan Reconnect students at Schoolcraft College find their footing. She’s proud of events she’s brought to campus and her work on the policy surrounding the use of AI. She also spent time working at The Schoolcraft Connection student newspaper.
She’s even found a way to leave a piece of herself her on campus. She sculpted a pair of art pieces that rest across campus: “Flag of All Nation” is outside the Liberal Arts building and “A Letter to My Father” can be found between the Health Sciences Center and the Biomedical Technology Center. The latter sculpture is a tribute to her father, who died in recent years.
“He had to give up his dreams to raise me and so I think he understood the pain of giving up your dreams,” Adiba said. “He never stopped encouraging me.”
Adiba attributes her time at Schoolcraft to several instructors and advisors, including Student Activities Director Todd Stowell. The advisor to PTK, Adiba said Stowell was always helpful whenever she needed assistance.
“You call somebody who will actually listen to you. For me, it’s my advisor Todd,” she said. “It was genuinely an open-door policy.”
With her time at Schoolcraft College ending, Adiba now heads to the University of Michigan where she’ll study anthropology. She plans to combine her art background with the research aspect of an anthropology degree to do research-based artwork.
Adiba credits a lot of things to her success at Schoolcraft College. From the Reconnect scholarship to her classmates to her advisors, she’s a firm believer that nothing she’s accomplished has been a one-person job.
“I’m a very team-oriented person. I believe that everything I’ve ever done, it’s not a solo thing,” she said. “There’s nothing called self-made. And that’s what I believe. “If I can do it in Bangladesh, I can do it 10 times here in America.”
Schoolcraft College’s 59th Annual Commencement Ceremony takes place at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 4, in the TrinityElite Sports Center on the Livonia campus. Those who cannot attend in-person are invited to watch the livestream of the Ceremony on the event web page.