Maragan loves Goodwill Day - the last Friday of the month that kids are allowed to shed their uniforms and dress up at GICC.
He saunters into eighth grade English wearing a pristine shirt, long creased shorts and white tennis shoes that positively gleam.
"You look very nice, Maragan," I compliment him.
He nods sagely. "Got my swag," he grins.
Maragan Kori is cooler than cool. He's also an ornery little hooligan.
In art class, when his buddy Nick Nolan pesters him, Maragan threatens to tell the teacher.
"You'll never tell," cocky little Nick sneers.
Maragan jumps up, heads straight to Mrs. Zulkoski, and innocently inquires whether she'd be willing to ask Nick where he purchased his uniform shirt.
"I need one, but I'm too embarrassed to ask him," he ducks his head shyly.
Confused, Mrs. Z nevertheless calls to the front of the room a wide-eyed Nick who promptly groans, lays his head on his desk and cries.
Now a senior at Grand Island Central Catholic, Maragan and his classmates laugh recalling the incident.
"Maragan's so hilarious," senior Vann Stevenson laughs. "He's spontaneous like that and always comes up with something."
In his close-knit class, Maragan's made life long friends. He and his classmates have known each other since they were 11-years-old, and some friendships started in grade school. His friends tease him about the day Mr. Howard called him a cry baby and about his energetic passions.
"Remember when Maragan was upset because he had to miss his 900th episode of WWE?" senior Jordan Pebeck jokes. Maragan, embarrassed, shakes his head and laughs.
Maragan Kori will be the first to tell you he had a lot of growing up to do. "I was bad in middle school," he admits. "I was a smart alec running around this school. I couldn't sit still."
He credits his parents, Gadwal and Nema, and his teachers for turning him around. "My teachers didn't have the greatest opinion of me, but they kept telling me I could do it - that I was smart."
And his parents, he says, are the bravest people he knows.
Born in Sudan, Maragan's father was an engineer and a soldier before he packed up his family and fled from persecution to Egypt. Maragan was two-years-old and has fleeting memories of his next few years in Egypt.
"I remember going to church with my mom, playing in sand and going to a day care that had lots of slides," he recalls.
Just before Maragan was old enough to start shool, he and his family traveled to the United States to start their new life. Maragan began shool in Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to Grand Island when he was 7. His dad is now employed at a factory in Alda, and Maragan first enrolled at Wasmer Elementary where he met life long friend Chase Wenzl who would later accompany him to Central Catholic.
"My younger brother Mubarak and I learned English right away," Maragan recalls, "but my parents had a tougher time." His father watched the news to learn the language, and his mother still tries to incorporate English into her daily life. His little sisters Misa and Magda were born here.
It was understanding his parents' tremendous courage and sacrifices for their children, especially as he grew older, that motivated Maragan to try hard in school.
"I started studying," he says. "My classes and my teachers became important to me. My classmates are all smart and athletic. They make me try harder."
He's enjoying this time in his life, but he knows he owes it to himself and to his parents to make something great of himself. "If I work as hard as I can, God will take care of the rest. He gave me parents who are brave. My mom always gave us a little extra love and made my brother and me feel safe. Now I have to do good things with my life."
Faith, Maragan says, has become the cornerstone of his life at Central Catholic."It's strange not being able to know my family from Sudan or where I come from. I still worry about them. But I've learned a lot about God and my faith, and it helps me to feel better about my family. I still, though," he says, "want to go back to Sudan - back to the capital city - to meet them."
In fact, Maragan hopes to study medicine after his high school graduation. Then he wants to go back home. To Sudan. "I've had it easy all my life," he says. " People in Sudan haven't. I want to go back to see where I came from and help them."
He'll do it, too. If Maragan can scare Nick Nolan into believing he's getting in trouble with the art teacher, he can do anything.
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| GICC senior Maragan Kori |
"You look very nice, Maragan," I compliment him.
He nods sagely. "Got my swag," he grins.
Maragan Kori is cooler than cool. He's also an ornery little hooligan.
In art class, when his buddy Nick Nolan pesters him, Maragan threatens to tell the teacher.
"You'll never tell," cocky little Nick sneers.
Maragan jumps up, heads straight to Mrs. Zulkoski, and innocently inquires whether she'd be willing to ask Nick where he purchased his uniform shirt.
"I need one, but I'm too embarrassed to ask him," he ducks his head shyly.
Confused, Mrs. Z nevertheless calls to the front of the room a wide-eyed Nick who promptly groans, lays his head on his desk and cries.
Now a senior at Grand Island Central Catholic, Maragan and his classmates laugh recalling the incident.
"Maragan's so hilarious," senior Vann Stevenson laughs. "He's spontaneous like that and always comes up with something."
 |
| Maragan Kori, top center, with some of his classmates, First row from left: Alex McCarraher, Blake Kyriss, Aric Montgomery. Second row from left: Robert Binfield, Nate Starman, Sam Tynan, Vann Stevenson, Matt Novinski, Jordan Pebeck and Amanda Fay. |
"Remember when Maragan was upset because he had to miss his 900th episode of WWE?" senior Jordan Pebeck jokes. Maragan, embarrassed, shakes his head and laughs.
Maragan Kori will be the first to tell you he had a lot of growing up to do. "I was bad in middle school," he admits. "I was a smart alec running around this school. I couldn't sit still."
He credits his parents, Gadwal and Nema, and his teachers for turning him around. "My teachers didn't have the greatest opinion of me, but they kept telling me I could do it - that I was smart."
And his parents, he says, are the bravest people he knows.
Born in Sudan, Maragan's father was an engineer and a soldier before he packed up his family and fled from persecution to Egypt. Maragan was two-years-old and has fleeting memories of his next few years in Egypt.
"I remember going to church with my mom, playing in sand and going to a day care that had lots of slides," he recalls.
Just before Maragan was old enough to start shool, he and his family traveled to the United States to start their new life. Maragan began shool in Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to Grand Island when he was 7. His dad is now employed at a factory in Alda, and Maragan first enrolled at Wasmer Elementary where he met life long friend Chase Wenzl who would later accompany him to Central Catholic.
"My younger brother Mubarak and I learned English right away," Maragan recalls, "but my parents had a tougher time." His father watched the news to learn the language, and his mother still tries to incorporate English into her daily life. His little sisters Misa and Magda were born here.
It was understanding his parents' tremendous courage and sacrifices for their children, especially as he grew older, that motivated Maragan to try hard in school.
"I started studying," he says. "My classes and my teachers became important to me. My classmates are all smart and athletic. They make me try harder."
He's enjoying this time in his life, but he knows he owes it to himself and to his parents to make something great of himself. "If I work as hard as I can, God will take care of the rest. He gave me parents who are brave. My mom always gave us a little extra love and made my brother and me feel safe. Now I have to do good things with my life."
Faith, Maragan says, has become the cornerstone of his life at Central Catholic."It's strange not being able to know my family from Sudan or where I come from. I still worry about them. But I've learned a lot about God and my faith, and it helps me to feel better about my family. I still, though," he says, "want to go back to Sudan - back to the capital city - to meet them."
In fact, Maragan hopes to study medicine after his high school graduation. Then he wants to go back home. To Sudan. "I've had it easy all my life," he says. " People in Sudan haven't. I want to go back to see where I came from and help them."
He'll do it, too. If Maragan can scare Nick Nolan into believing he's getting in trouble with the art teacher, he can do anything.
