盖克·菲利帕伊是努力实现在美国接受教育的梦想的移民们的典范。

盖克·菲利帕伊（Gac Filipaj）花了12年时间终于获得了纽约哥伦比亚大学（Columbia University）的学士学位。这位来自前南斯拉夫的难民现年52岁，尚未结婚成家，他一面当清洁工、一面孜孜不倦地求学，在学业上所取得的成就让他成了全美各报的头条新闻。

在美国各地，移民们追求实现自己受教育的梦想。根据最近的一项研究——普林斯顿大学（Princeton University）和布鲁金斯学会（Brookings Institution）联合展开的“儿童的未来”研究——表明，曾经在美国学校注册入学的在外国出生的移民中有85%完成了他们的学业。这项研究还说，在13岁之前来到美国的移民的在校表现一般说来不比在美国出生的同龄人差。

根据这项研究，今日美国居民中大约每8人中便有1人是移民，而全美国近四分之一的儿童是移民的孩子。

Gac Filipaj is a hero to immigrants pursuing their dreams of an education in the United States.

It took him 12 years, but Gac Filipaj finally earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in New York. The unmarried 52-year-old refugee from the former Yugoslavia worked as a janitor while pursuing his studies, and his educational accomplishment has won him headlines across the United States.

Across America, immigrants are pursuing their educational dreams. According to a recent study — “Future of Children” by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution —- 85 percent of the foreign-born who were ever enrolled in a U.S. school finished their schooling. And immigrants who enter the country before age 13 generally do as well as their native-born peers, the study says.

Approximately one in eight U.S. residents today is an immigrant, while nearly a quarter of all of the nation's children are the children of immigrants, according to the study.