SC Connecticut News

Rohan Krishnan, a Yale student, has dedicated his time at the university to supporting young immigrants in their new environment. This passion for helping young migrants thrive academically was ignited during his high school years in Worcester, Massachusetts. At Yale, Krishnan expanded his horizons, meeting world leaders and taking courses with former U.S. ambassadors.

In his first year at Yale, Krishnan joined the Migration Alliance at Yale (MAY), an organization that supports refugees, documented and undocumented immigrants, and asylum seekers. He served as the group's college career readiness director, assisting refugee high school students with SAT preparation, English-language skills, and college essay writing.

Krishnan also arranged workshops for these students with Yale admissions officers and introduced them to various campus venues. He noted that many of these students had experienced psychological trauma in their home countries and faced bullying in their new environment. "Being able to help them through these difficulties, witnessing their resilience, and seeing them succeed is very rewarding," said Krishnan.

Many of the students he tutored were from Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. This exposure sparked Krishnan's interest in studying the region further and led him to learn Arabic at Yale.

For his senior capstone project, Krishnan traveled to Bosnia with fellow seniors under the guidance of David Robinson, a former senior foreign service officer in Bosnia. They studied how the multi-ethnic Brčko District could best realize self-government as per the 1995 peace agreement amidst rising ethnic tensions.

In his junior year at Yale, Krishnan created a podcast called "Voices of the World," which discusses human rights violations and freedom of speech issues in different nations through conversations with international peers and faculty members at Yale.

Krishnan also participated in several other activities on campus including serving as a leader for FOCUS on New Haven community service program; participating in Yale Taekwondo; working as a research assistant for three Yale faculty members; and serving as an admissions interviewer in his senior year.

After graduation, Krishnan plans to work in Washington, D.C., with a long-term goal of becoming an immigration lawyer or pursuing a career that allows him to aid refugees. "I think we have a responsibility to help refugees, in part because our nation’s foreign policy sometimes contributed to the instability in the countries from which they came," said Krishnan. "I have learned so much from them and their resilience."