A true story of a Michiana educator and her students, this book looks at the Rwandan genocide from a different perspective: that of students from Rwanda studying in the United States at the time of the genocide. Many of the students lost some or all of their family members to brutal killings back home, but with the help of the dean of admissions at Southwestern Michigan College, Ilene Sheffer, the students themselves were spared potentially life-threatening deportation. Collected in this volume are the personal stories of seven Rwandan international students, along with Ilene Sheffer's account of her own efforts to defend the students during the 1994 genocide—all of which proves that the bond between an exceptional educator and her students can attain heroic strength.