Our Story
Paper Airplanes started small, with one humble goal: to serve conflict-impacted students in need.
In Summer 2013, Bailey Ulbricht spent two months volunteering in Reyhanli, Turkey, a small town on the Turkish-Syrian border, where she met dozens of young college-aged Syrian students desperate to complete their university degrees despite the conflict in Syria. Wanting to continue helping these students, once Bailey returned to the United States, she began Skyping a few of them to help them practice English. Little did she know that this experience would lay the groundwork for Paper Airplanes.
Soon, other young Syrian refugees were reaching out to her, requesting English lessons. Bailey realized she could ask people in her network to volunteer lessons, and thus Paper Airplanes was born. In June 2014, Bailey initiated the first Paper Airplanes English language program with 10 tutors from her alma mater, Carleton College, and Syrian students she knew. Throughout the rest of her time at Carleton, Paper Airplanes continued to grow, recruiting tutors from the Carleton student body and neighboring colleges, being mentored by professors, and advertising to Syrians through her Syrian friends and social media.
In December 2016, Paper Airplanes received official nonprofit status in the United States, and in January 2017, the team expanded to include 25 staff members, of which five were former students of Paper Airplanes eager to contribute.
We believe strongly in the power of the Internet to transform educational access for those who need it most. We focus on the skills learners need to access future training, employment and higher education opportunities in their country of residence or abroad. Through live and personalized instruction, we further hope to break down politicized cultural barriers and encourage cross-cultural understanding. For now, we are focusing on the MENA region, and particularly those who are affected by the Syrian conflict.
Our Mission is to Enable Learning Continuity
Only 1% of refugee youth attend university, compared to 34% youth around the world - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Paper Airplanes helps these students continue and complete their education, while also empowering them with skills for gainful employment.
According to UNHCR, only 1% of university-aged refugees are currently attend university, compared to 34% worldwide. A 2014 study conducted by the Refugee Studies Centre found that refugee youth value and desire education, and are actively looking to matriculate at a university or secure skills necessary to obtain employment.
Language proficiency is often overlooked, but critically needed by those affected by conflict to access opportunities that might include additional training, education, or employment. English remains the most common language in the world for university-level instruction, is required for skills training like coding, and is a requirement for entrance into schools in many countries where refugees move on to. Host country languages like Turkish can further eliminate barriers to public education, institutional support, and employment. Professional skills training allows those affected to bypass formal university degrees, which oftentimes may be unattainable, and instead find work in growing international sectors like technology, graphic design, journalism, or nonprofit.
The Multiplying Factor
Education and skills training allows conflict-affected individuals to unlock opportunities and contribute to the societies in which they live. Vocational training and language learning assists refugees in playing “an active role in their own integration, enabling them and their children to be more successful and more active participants in their society”. Education can promote conflict resolution, tolerance, and respect for human rights, and it increases the earning potential of students. It can foster social cohesion and provide the skills and knowledge needed to rebuild tattered economic and physical infrastructures throughout the MENA region. It can also steer youth away from joining armed militant groups, providing a necessary outlet for fulfillment and belonging. Providing these tools benefits not just individuals but their communities and the societies in which they live. Providing and language instruction is something we should care deeply about, both from a strategic and moral standpoint.
By using Skype we have the potential to reach thousands of students and adult learners in need, providing individualized instruction that fits the needs of each beneficiary. As human beings, we have a right to education and an obligation to help those in need access it. We know that the world's future depends on multi-lateral cooperation to break down transnational problems, and education remains a major component. We know that by fostering personal relationships, mentoring goes beyond the virtual classroom into the lives of both our tutors as well as our learners.
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