Outstanding Non-Traditional Student Award

UCEA honors adult students over the age of 25 for noteworthy achievements in the pursuit of excellence in continuing education. This year's national outstanding continuing education student awardee was selected from among the award-winning students chosen by UCEA's six regional organizations.

Kulsum (Kay) Malik

University of Maryland University College

Adult learners commonly face challenges they must meet in pursuit of a degree, be they financial, familial or cultural. But Kulsum (Kay) Malik's story-one of overcoming overwhelming obstacles faced from a very young age through adulthood- is a remarkable tale of perseverance, and of a will to achieve even through times so dark they are inconceivable to most.

As a young girl in England, Malik was warned to stay away from books-she was told they were filthy and poisoned the minds of females. She smuggled them home regardless, and would read them late at night; her mother would shred them when she found them and beat her. At 16, she was sent from Yorkshire to Pakistan and quickly married off to a husband who, like her father, was mentally and physically abusive.

"Rebel that I was, I got my hands on a few dog-eared books," Malik recalls. "They would transport my silence to a place where words whispered that sacred word: freedom."

With two children of her own, she convinced her husband to move to the United States in 2000. Out from under some of his control, Malik enrolled at Montgomery College in Maryland, working in the childcare center so she could keep her daughter with her during the day. When her daughter entered first grade, Malik took jobs as a teacher's assistant at a local school and a patient representative at a local hospital. But her life at home further deteriorated, and in the summer of 2003 while enrolled in her first semester at UMUC, domestic violence forced her to flee to a homeless shelter with her children. After that, she went into hiding for six months.

Two years passed after leaving home before Malik returned to UMUC. She had managed to obtain a divorce, and a lack of funds was now the main obstacle that stood in her way. A part-time student, she worked long hours, and with the help of financial aid and several scholarships, managed to complete her degree in English with a 4.0 grade average in 2007.

Malik excelled at UMUC. She graduated summa cum laude and was class valedictorian. She has been published in scholarly literary magazines and is the elected president of the Sigma Tau Delta, Tau Omega International English Honors Society.

Says Gay Claiborne, an Adjunct Professor in the English Department who taught Malik: "Classmates respond in awe and admiration to her revelations about the journey that has compelled her to attain educational goals despite such deterrents-as do I and others who know her well."

In class, Malik developed a reputation for helping other students, posting motivational messages to classmates and volunteering to aid those struggling with their writing. She has been a principle organizer of UMUC's poetry reading series and continues to coordinate/moderate the UMUC English Online club. She also works as a writing advisor for the UMUC's Effective Writing Center. Her daughter is "a spunky 13-yearold," and her son is 19 and pursuing a college education. And now, Malik stands poised to continue to help others-she will enter the classroom as a State of Maryland-certified teacher of high school English.