In 2013, the Abaarso School was launched against all odds in a remote location in Somaliland to prepare the future leaders of a state devastated by a brutal civil war. An American accredited 7th-12th grade leadership boarding school, at Abaarso young students became the first Somalilanders in thirty years to earn places at top U.S. universities, including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Cornell. In total, more than 350 alumni have earned scholarships totaling $55 million. Abaarso School has been featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes and in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes. As Art Director at Reitdesign, I was tasked with redesigning the school’s existing site to better reflect its location, students and extraordinary mission.
