Tumsa Bedane is a junior at Denver South High School.
He arrived in Denver a little over two years ago from Ethiopia. With less than four years of formal education, none of which was in English, he enrolled in South High’s Newcomer Center in the fall of 2003.
At the time, Tumsa could not read a first-grade- level book in English, but wanting to become proficient in English, he quickly moved up in the English Language Acquisition program at school.
Tumsa was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1988. He lives in an apartment in east Denver with his brother, mother and four sisters.
He speaks English, Oromo and a little Amharic. Today, Tumsa has a 4.0 grade-point average and is on track to graduate in 2007.
He plays soccer and is on the track team this spring.
Tumsa plans to go to college to become a pharmacist.
Each week, The Denver Post honors an outstanding youth for his or her accomplishments. King Soopers presents each honoree with a packet including a gift certificate, a letter of commendation and an application for employment. To nominate a student, write to The Denver Post DTW, “Top Kid,” 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202. Enclose information about the nominee, a photograph and the name and phone number of someone we can contact for more information.
