By Jonathan Gramling

Part 1 of 2

As we talk on the phone, I get the sense that Whitney Tabifor, a graduating UW-Madison PEOPLE Scholar, has a wisdom beyond her years that will more than likely serve her well as a psychiatrist someday. She has a calm, confident, matter-of-fact demeanor where it appears nothing would phase her.

Tabifor has literally come a long ways to get to this point. She was born in Douala, Cameroon, a Francophone African country, when she was eight years-old and her parents were looking for a new life, although it would mean starting over, at least academically.

“I’m not a First Gen,” Tabifor said. “My parents were actually degreed back in Cameroon. When we moved here, those credits didn’t transfer over, which is an interesting thing. They went back to school here and now they are degreed again and they work here.”

Tabifor ended up attending the Milwaukee School of Languages.

“It’s a Milwaukee public school,” Tabifor said. “A majority of the students who come in are from emerging schools. There is German, French, and Spanish immersion. A lot of the students have known each other since they were in K-4. My situation was different where I was able to get testing done when I entered high school, which is very rare. I tested into the French class, so they took me into the program there.”

And it was while she was enrolled at the school of languages that she was introduced to the PEOPLE Program.

“One of my mom’s friends has children who went through the school prior