Nadia Eshun

Nadia Eshun had her sights set on three colleges as a senior in high school. 

She chose UMass Lowell for its size, its community feel and its reputation among other students from her hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts.

“I knew people who were going here, so I always had good feelings about this school,” she says. “It’s a good size: not too big, not too small. And they were very gracious with money, as well.”

That last factor was, in some ways, the most important. Eshun, a first-generation college student, and her mother had been unable to access the updated FAFSA, the federal form required to apply for financial aid. Even as Eshun began her first semester as an honors political science major in the fall of 2024, she was worried about how she would pay for it.

“I went crying to Financial Aid,” says Eshun, who recalls Senior Associate Director Michelle Smith telling her, “Don’t worry – have fun, enjoy school and let me handle this.”

Smith was as good as her word. Over Thanksgiving break, Eshun found out that she was getting a full ride based on her family’s income, plus a bonus offered to high-performing high school students upon admission to UML: a $4,000 Immersive Scholarship. Students can use the scholarships to do research with a faculty member, study abroad or intern with a community organization after their first year of study.

Eshun used it to set up a summer internship at the Safe Exit Initiative, a nonprofit in Worcester that helps women and young people leave the sex trade.

The internship was a perfect fit. As a high school student, Eshun served on Planned Parenthood’s Get Real Teen Council, focusing on peer-to-peer sex education, racial justice, and women’s and LGBTQ+ issues. 

“I really care about the people in my community,” she says. “There’s an increasing homeless population, a lot of substance abuse and a high immigrant population – and the majority of people in Worcester are very low-income.”

The Safe Exit Initiative, which Eshun had looked into while in high school, runs an outreach program and a day shelter with free showers, clothing, food, and medical and legal services. It also has a full-service shelter for women who want to leave the sex trade, get sober, get out of debt and find help with housing and employment.

And it provides a diversion program, Eshun says, through an agreement with Worcester police and prosecutors: When officers pick up a woman for street-level prostitution, she can avoid jail time if she chooses to take advantage of Safe Exit’s services.

“In America, they’re one of the only organizations that does what they do. I wanted to see how they do it,” Eshun says. “My big question was, ‘How do nonprofits even get money?’”

She found out by interning with the fundraising team, where she assisted with grant writing and soliciting donations through social media. She also took on a special project: helping to raise money and donations for the holiday drive, when Safe Exit serves Christmas dinner and gives out gift bags to more than 100 people.

Eshun also helped out in the day shelter, unpacking and sorting clothing donations or putting together kits with test strips to detect fentanyl and xylazine in street drugs. Although many of the women in the shelter were reserved, some opened up and told her their troubles, especially in the donation room.

“The stories I’ve heard, it’s a lot,” she says.