Wheaton Grad a Harvard Class Act

By Casey Banas
Tribune Education Writer
May 3, 1999

Selamawi Asgedom considered attending a small university in Indiana four years ago and consulted Joyce Luckett, who had been an English teacher at Wheaton North High School, where Asgedom was a senior.

"It's a fine university," Luckett told the refugee from the African nation of Eritrea, "but you should consider Harvard."

He did, and next month he will be one of three students delivering a commencement address at the university. To put the honor in perspective, the fourth speaker will be Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Those who know "Mawi" are predicting Greenspan will find him a tough act to follow on June 10. But then, they consider the young man one of this year's great success stories.

"He is a genuinely fine human being, and perhaps his story will encourage other youths who have potential," Luckett said.

Asgedom was bon 22 years ago in Adie Wahla, Eritrea, a town of several thousand people on the Ethiopian border. At the time, Eritrea was in the midst of a bloody civil war for independence from Ethiopia, which it won earlier this decade.

Rebel groups battled year after year. Asgedom's father, Haileab, a physician, was allied with one rebel group. When another rebel group gained the upper hand in Adie Wahla, Haileab Asgedom had to flee for his life to neighboring...

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