Student Receives Personal Visit and Acceptance Letter from President of GWU

[sgopal2]

This is a great story of a student who fled his home country for asylum, and then two years later receives a full scholarship to attend GWU. The president of the university (Steven Knapp) surprises the student in his history class with the news, along with a full entourage. This was a nice special touch.

See below for full article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/he-fled-to-the-us-for-political-asylum-two-years-later-he-won-a-full-ride-to-gwu/2016/03/17/5e3d00ec-ec7b-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html?tid=hybrid_content_3_na

[bookworm]

He’ll still be living in a basement with his sister, working to pay their bills.

[MYOS1634]

^uh?

[Zinhead]

In wonder how many of these kids actually accept the scholarship.

[SlackerMomMD]

Since the establishment of the scholarship more than 25 years ago, GWU has awarded it to more than 160 students. Ninety percent of participants graduate with a college degree, according to the university.
…
He lives in a basement apartment with his younger sister, who also attends Roosevelt and has three jobs to pay the bills. He doesn’t want to leave his sister and says he probably will stay in his apartment.

His sister, Hannah, and two cousins — who are both attending college — were all there when Knapp surprised him with the scholarship. His parents still live in Ethi­o­pia and didn’t know about the event.

Gebremeskel said he planned to call his parents as soon as the frenzy quieted down at school.

“I can’t wait to tell them,” he said.

I love reading these stories. The GW President does this every year, going to the scholarship recipient to give him or her the news.

I hope he will somehow get help with supporting his sister. It’s not the academics stopping these kids. Their outsized responsibilities are the biggest stumbling blocks.

[AboutTheSame]

Nice story. Don’t read the comments at the Washington Post site. I always ignore my own rule and then regret it.

[anxiousenior1]

“Nkenge Cunningham — Gebremeskel’s English teacher— said he was a standout student as soon as he arrived at Roosevelt High. During his junior year, Gebremeskel was the first student in the school’s history to score a 2 out of 5 on the Advanced Placement calculus exam.”

A little off topic, but is this a typo? A 2 out of 5? Does this mean that everyone else scores 1s? I find that hard to believe.

[AboutTheSame]

I would suspect a typo. I would not spend much time worrying about it.

[anxiousenior1]

Ah, just wondering! Not saying he doesn’t deserve it or anything; I’m sure he does

[SlackerMomMD]

I don’t think that’s a typo. The score is probably for real. Chances are no one takes the exam or yes, scores 1 or 0. Just taking AP calculus is a success for these students. The high school is in the Petworth area of Washington, DC, one of the poorest areas of the city and the school is one of the city’s lowest-performing high schools.

[MYOS1634]

Like one of those schools where gangs threaten to shoot you if you get a B or higher (cf. a Hope in the Unseen).

[DarwinKnew]

Oh god, the comments. I was curious, and now I regret it, too.

[MYOS1634]

Well, I won’t read them, because something nasty has been unleashed in our country and the internet magnifies it.