Maryam Virk is a May 2022 Germanna graduate transferring to the University of Virginia with plans to become an attorney and help women in her native land.
When she was 12, her family left Pakistan for America in search of better educational opportunities for their daughter.
She’s never forgotten the crushing weight of difficulties women and poor people face there.
Now 20, Maryam Virk graduated from Germanna Community College in May and is transferring to the University of Virginia, where she will major in government. She plans to go on from UVA to the Yale Law School or the New York University School of Law. Virk says she wants “to fight injustice,” particularly “injustice against poor people in my country. I want to fight for them.”
Virk says that opportunities for women in Pakistan are “limited in general,” not just academically.
“As a woman in Pakistan, you have a lot of safety issues. You are ordered to dress a certain way. You don’t feel safe going out. There are catcalls on a daily basis. You do not have equal rights.”
“We do not have educational opportunities and basic freedom there for everyone,” she says. “I’m able to achieve whatever I want here because of the sort of freedom this country offers.”
She had wanted to go straight to UVA upon graduation from Stafford High School but found that wasn’t practical financially.
Virk says Germanna “was the place I could fulfill dreams I never thought would come true. There was an opportunity without financial pressure.”
She credits Heather Diritto, Coordinator of Career and Transfer Services at Germanna, with guiding her on her higher educational path: “She made UVA possible for me. She was there on day one and told me which courses to take and motivated me throughout my journey.”
“She has her sights set on UVA and other elite schools, and it can certainly be an overwhelming process,” Diritto says, “but Maryam put in the work and it has paid off. I am so very proud of all of her accomplishments at Germanna and look forward to hearing about all the wonderful things she achieves.”
During the Spring semester at Germanna, Virk and fellow GCC student Kaitlyn Niesent were honored at Phi Theta Kappa All-Virginia Academic Team Awards Ceremony in Richmond.
Virk says Germanna Phi Theta Kappa adviser and Dean of Student Services Frank A. Cirioni also made a difference for her.
“He made me feel I belong here,” she says. He was always there for me, giving me advice can telling me that I could do whatever I put my mind to.”
“Maryam has an incredible life story,” Cirioni says, adding that representing Germanna on the All-Virginia Academic Team “is one of the highest academic honors in the Commonwealth.” Cirioni says Maryam and Kaitlyn “have left an indelible mark on the college.”
Niesent is transferring to UVA as well. She plans to earn her BSN there.
Virk says she herself has advice for high school students: “I went through a hard time, and, because of that, I know that every student who wants to go to their dream college shouldn’t give up.” She said even though it seems counterintuitive, setbacks can help propel people toward their goals. “If you’re determined,” she says, “you really can get what you want.”