Traveling the world has been Ashti Mohamed Ali’s dream since she was young. Moving to the United States was one step closer to reaching her goal.

Ashti was born in Baghdad, Iraq where she lived with her parents and four siblings, including a twin brother. In her youth, she spent time with family and friends, and she attended school. As Iraq became more dangerous, however, Ashti spent less and less time outside the house.

Her father—an interpreter with the U.S. Army—was told he would be killed by the Iraqi government if he didn’t move to another country, and their family started the immigration process. It took over four years before the application was approved, and Ashti learned she would be moving to Fargo, North Dakota. Aside from the language and weather, Ashti’s life in America wasn’t much different from her life in Iraq.

Although she was a high school senior in Iraq, Ashti had to restart school at the sophomore level when she enrolled at Fargo South High School. Aside from school, Ashti works at JCPenney and plays tennis in her spare time. In the future, she hopes to become an orthopedic surgeon and fulfil her dream of traveling around the world.