So it’s no big surprise that Jaffrey, a wife of a combat veteran and a mother of a 15-year-old and a 10-year-old, began her journey as a West Virginia University commuter student in fall 2024.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
A: I come from a small village near the city of Gujrat in Pakistan. I was raised in a Shia household, which is a minority group within the religion of Islam. It is worth mentioning because it plays a huge role in being who I am and what values I have. I moved to the U.S. 10 years ago, not long after which my husband, Haider, came back severely injured from deployment to Afghanistan as an active-duty soldier in the United States Army. He sustained injuries from an IED blast that gave him traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, along with PTSD and depression. I was his caregiver during his rehabilitation. I did not even know about these injuries let alone the long-lasting effects. These injuries did not only affect him but the whole family. Currently, I am on an exploratory pathway at WVU and taking basic courses just to get a better understanding of where I want to invest my time.
Q: How do you balance jumping in as a college student with home life?
A: Balancing home life and school can be overwhelming. For me and my family, balance is taking care of our mental and physical health first.
Education is something that has always been very important to me. I was a good student as a kid but was not allowed to continue my education and was married off while I was still in college. I came from a background where education was a privilege and not a basic right. This yearning for growth and education became stronger with time. I started giving up this idea of going back to school while dealing with mental and physical health problems, but with the encouragement and help from my kids and husband, I finally took the leap. This transition from helping my kids with homework and guiding my husband in choosing his career path, to now relying on them to guide me, has been an incredible journey.
Q: So, how did you end up at WVU?
A: My husband is also a nontraditional student at WVU and finishing up his last year of dental school. His acceptance here itself convinced me that WVU is a diverse and inclusive institute. Now that I am a student here, my experience has been nothing but great. My teachers inspire me every day, and I am a strong believer that a good teacher can change a student’s life. The staff at WVU, from my adviser to faculty, are all very helpful and respectful. As far as my major, I am inclined toward math and physics but I’m open to other options. WVU’s core values of service, curiosity and respect resonate with my personal values.
In surviving my mental health challenges, the path of education is not just to earn a degree, but it is my very survival. It gives me the sense of purpose that I direly need.
