These are the moments we live and work for. Today, our wonderful Legacy Scholarship awardee and close friend, Nancy Acii, graduates from National University.
She began her journey with Invisible Children in 2005 as one of our first legacy scholarship students. (Just as a little refresher, our Legacy Scholarship Program benefits students in northern Uganda who have been affected by LRA violence.)
But Nancy’s story doesn’t end there. In 2008, she was the first ever Legacy Scholarship student to be awarded a scholarship for university in the United States. So she packed her bags and headed for Boise State University in Illinois.
In 2012, Nancy decided to transfer to San Diego (to be closer to the Invisible Children office, of course) to complete her degree in Public Health from National University. Today, she finishes that degree and will return to Uganda on Sunday to pursue a career in public health.
Nancy (far left) with her fellow Roadies at Disneyland– her favorite place from tour.
You may recognize her. Not only is Nancy a Legacy Scholarship student, but she also toured as a Roadie on our Congo Tour in 2011. In honor of Nancy’s graduation, we asked her Roadie teammate, Hannah, to tell us some of her favorite memories of Nancy on tour:
Nancy was the best teammate anyone of us could ask for. She was hardworking, incredible at public speaking, great with students, but also hilarious, sassy, positive, and always down for adventure. I mean that’s what tour is: one crazy, exciting, and long adventure.
When we first met, Nancy only knew of one other Hannah, Hannah Montana. I remember specifically telling her not to call me that, so what did she call me instead? Montana. Montana from Texas. That nickname has stuck ever since and I couldn’t be more happy about it.
I remember one time during a Q&A session at a screening a student asked Nancy, “What do you eat in Uganda?” Her reply was, “Oh we just climb the trees and eat mangos.” All of the kids stared at her with shocked eyes and she said “I’m totally kidding. We eat food like you do.” This is how Nancy was all the time. Cracking jokes and just trying to have a good time and make people laugh.
Nancy even had her own spot in the van. We called it her “nook”. At any time on our long drives you would find her cuddled up by the window with her pink snuggie reading a novel.
There’s a million stories I could tell about this amazing woman who I not only can call my friend, but also my sister. I’ve been incredibly lucky this past year to get to hang out with her on a regular basis. Not many teammates get that luxury. So it makes it even harder to have to finally say goodbye, at least for now. I have full faith that I’ll see her again and we will pick up exactly where we left off. She will call me Montana and I’ll call her Nance. We will find ourselves watching The Hobbit and braiding each other’s hair, just like we’ve always done.
Nancy, from the bottom of our hearts, congratulations on your graduation. We cannot wait to see what you will do next.
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