From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Apr 12 2010 - 17:55:18 EDT
SJT Scholarship winner follows in siblings' footsteps
by Ashley Roberts
Hatchet Staff Writer
Issue: 4/12/10 <http://www.gwhatchet.com/news/2010/04/12/> 4/12/10 4/12/10 |
News <http://www.gwhatchet.com/news/2010/04/12/News/>
"Lightning strikes once, but we didn't expect it to strike twice or even
three times," sophomore Bdho Gidey said as he sat in the Marvin Center with
two of his sisters, Sesen and Yuhana.
For the Gidey family, lightning indeed struck a third time last month when
the third Gidey sibling, Yuhana, was awarded the Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
Scholarship, which covers tuition and room and board at GW for four years.
Bdho received the scholarship in 2008 and Sesen earned the honor in 2007.
Nine D.C. high school seniors were selected this year on the basis of
grades, class rank, SAT scores, recommendations, leadership qualities,
community service, other extracurricular activities and achievements, and
demonstrated need. The process involves a nomination by a high school
counselor and an interview.
Zakaree Harris, assistant director for undergraduate admissions, said only
one other set of siblings has ever won the award in the past, and that each
student is considered individually and not compared to past winners.
While they are from the same family, Sesen, a junior, said the siblings have
different interests and goals.
"The three of us getting scholarships is more of a coincidence. We are three
different individuals regardless of same family and we each have our own
interest and involvement," Sesen said. "We worked hard to get the grades we
needed to get here. The scholarship wasn't given to us because we are
brothers and sisters."
Sesen is grateful for the scholarships, and called them a blessing.
"We are very thankful to the University because there are not that many
universities that would take an interest in investing in the city or
community that they are placed in - which is what I love about GW, they are
proactive in reaching out," she said.
All six Gidey children have attended or are attending D.C. public schools,
the siblings said. Sesen, who is majoring in biological anthropology, first
learned of the scholarship when she participated in the High Skip Program,
which gives high school students the chance to take college-level courses.
When she attended orientation for the High Skip Program, a member of GW
spoke about the Trachtenberg scholarship.
After graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, Bdho is now majoring in
biomedical engineering. Yuhana is a senior at Woodrow Wilson and will enroll
at GW in the fall to study psychology.
Besides academics, the siblings said part of the reason they chose GW was
the proximity to their family. The Gideys' parents came to the United States
25 years ago after they fled Eritrea, a country in eastern Africa bordered
by Sudan and Ethiopia. Their parents lived in Sudan as refugees before
immigrating to the United States.
Their Eritrean heritage is one of the factors that motivate the siblings,
they said. Sesen said she plans to attend medical school in the future and
the type of medicine she wants to practice will be related to the D.C.
community and the Eritrean community.
"I plan on getting involved with Physicians for Peace. I like the idea of
going to Eritrea and learning there because it's different from visiting,"
she said.
Bdho is involved with a literacy project in the Eritrean community that
reaches out to and helps teach young adults who do not know the language
Tigrinya. Yuhana said she hopes to help Eritrea become a more stable
country.
The siblings said their family has not just instilled a strong Eritrean
identity, but also a strong work ethic, discipline and emphasis on serving
others.
"Our parents have always taken great care to invest time and energy and
sacrifice to make sure they set [a] good foundation for their children so in
the future we can reap benefits because they set that good foundation. They
want to make sure we maintain our Eritrean identity while still living in
the United States," Yuhana said.
The Gidey siblings - Bdho, Sesen and Yuhana - were all awarded full tuition
to the
University through the Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholarship, which is given
to a handful of D.C. high school students each year.
Media Credit: Francis Rivera/Hatchet photographer
The Gidey siblings - Bdho, Sesen and Yuhana - were all awarded full tuition
to the University through the Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholarship, which
is given to a handful of D.C. high school students each year.
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