Tashi Ongmo Brought A Long and Winding Road to Knox

Knox College is an intellectual melting pot of students from around the world. There are currently 1,371 undergraduates at Knox, from 48 states and 42 countries. They all are free to share their creative ideas in science, the humanities, and the arts.

Tashi Ongmo is a first year student from Bhutan in South Asia. She plans to study studio art or art history. Although she never set foot on campus until she arrived for classes, she says she felt she knew the campus because she stayed in touch with the Knox.edu website community. Since coming here she has also auditioned for Terpsichore Dance Collective and is a member of the African Club.

"As am a member of the African Club - Harambee, I get a chance to be a first year representative. I also love anything creative... art, drawing, sketching and inspired writing."

Educated with the British curriculum, Ongmo has studied English since kindergarten. And, her multi-cultural experience dates back to her high school education in Thailand. "There was no culture shock for me when I came here, although I thought the campus was bigger than I imagined."

Getting here
It took Ongmo more than a wing and a prayer to get to Knox College from Bhutan. It started with a 45 minute drive skirting the curving roads of the east end of the Himalaya Mountains to get to the airport in Thimphu. Four hours later, she arrived in Delhi and spent a week processing her visa. She flew nine hours from Delhi to Amsterdam, took a breath during a layover and jumped on another plane for another nine hours to Boston. From Boston she flew to Detroit and met her host family. They are doctors whose countless mission trips introduced them to the Ongmo family when Tashi was five years old and they are the host family that took Ongmo shopping for college supplies and drove her to Knox College from Michigan.

But for all of her frequent flyer miles, this demure world traveler remains well grounded in her Buddhist belief. Her excursion required bare bones baggage, so rolled up and tucked under one arm was a painting mounted on a silk banner made by Ongmo's uncle. "It is the White Tara who is the goddess I pray to. My mother and I bought it together."

Her typical weekends in Bhutan are just like any other teenager. "I might sleep till noon. Eat. Go out for coffee with friends or rent movies if the weather is bad, and have dinner with my family." At Knox, her days read just as they do at home. "I live in Post Hall and my suitemates are wonderful. We spend time together and share a lot of interests."

Ongmo is interested in Knox's architectural cooperative program with Washington University. "It is what really attracted me to Knox."

Although the landscape has changed, Ongmo's view at the end of the day is the same. "Each night I offer my prayers to the goddess. That brings me peace, and even though I am used to seeing mountains out my window or as I walk down the street, I am getting used to seeing these trees and then the sky. I do love this campus."

Tashi Ongmo is an international student from Bhutan in South Asia. She is studying studio art and art history at Knox.