Meet Chudear

A Community That Carries You Forward

Finding Family, Building a Future:

Chudear’s Story

When Chudear Gony walked through the doors of Sacred Heart School for the first time in fourth grade, she was nervous.

She was entering a new school, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and unsure of where she would fit. But it did not take long for that uncertainty to fade.

Teachers and staff welcomed her, learned who she was, and helped create a place where she felt safe enough to be herself. Over time, Sacred Heart became much more than the school Chudear attended. It became a community she could depend on.

“CUES is family and community to me,” Chudear shared.

For Chudear, a 2026 CUES graduate, that sense of belonging became part of the foundation she carried with her when she graduated from Sacred Heart and began her freshman year at Mercy High School.

Strength at Home

Chudear is one of six children, and the strength of her family has shaped the way she sees the world.

Both of her parents are refugees from South Sudan who were forced to leave their home country because of violence and eventually build a new life in the United States.

Chudear is especially close to her mother, Sihan, who left South Sudan at 19 and traveled to Kenya in search of safety before eventually coming to Omaha.

About two years ago, Sihan suffered a stroke. Her recovery required extensive physical therapy, determination and patience. Today, she has regained her mobility and is doing much better.

Watching her mother work through that recovery has only deepened Chudear’s admiration for her.

She describes her mother as loving, hardworking and someone who brings their family together. More than anything, Chudear sees her as a source of strength — someone who has faced tremendous challenges and continued moving forward.

That example has stayed with Chudear as she begins thinking about the kind of person she wants to become.

Support Beyond the Classroom

At Sacred Heart, Chudear found another community willing to stand beside her family.

Through the CUES Student & Family Support Program, her parents were connected with resources, programs and opportunities they might not otherwise have known about.

Swanny and the Student & Family Support team regularly kept Chudear’s family in mind when resources became available.

“Without this program, my family would have missed these opportunities,” Chudear said.

For Chudear, that support showed her that CUES cared about more than what happened in the classroom. The people around her wanted to understand what students and families were experiencing and help when they could.

That same care was present in the individual support Chudear received.

Miss J. helped her learn how to manage her emotions, calm herself when she felt overwhelmed and work through stressful situations. Chudear says those are skills she continues to use today.

One of the biggest lessons she carried away from Sacred Heart was simple: be yourself and surround yourself with good people.

Discovering What Is Possible

CUES also gave Chudear opportunities to explore her interests.

She loved basketball and soccer, and through Student & Family Support she was connected with Football for the World, where she participated in soccer programming for several years.

She also enjoyed ON CUE, which brought students from different grade levels together and strengthened the sense of community she already felt at Sacred Heart.

But one experience began connecting Chudear with a possible future.

In sixth grade, she participated in Creighton University’s Mini Medical School, giving her an early opportunity to explore the healthcare field.

Today, Chudear dreams of becoming a registered nurse.

She is drawn to nursing because she wants to help people and give back to her community. As she begins high school, CUES continues to encourage that interest. The Student & Family Support team is working to connect her with another Mini Medical School opportunity designed for high school students.

Her eighth-grade experience also helped prepare her for the transition ahead.

Through the CUES Leadership Academy, Chudear built relationships with students from All Saints, Holy Name and Sacred Heart before graduation. When she started Mercy High School, some of those familiar faces were already there.

A new school still meant new teachers, expectations and routines, but Chudear did not have to navigate it alone.

The nervous fourth grader who once wondered where she would fit entered high school knowing who she was, surrounded by people she knew and supported by a community that continued to believe in her.

As Chudear looks toward a future in nursing, she carries with her the strength she has witnessed in her mother, the confidence she built at Sacred Heart and a desire to use both to care for others.

Her CUES story may have started with finding a place to belong.

Now, it is helping her imagine where she can go next.