all right so before we begin we're going to hear a few words from lydia robbed just two days prior to his graduation he also has played had planned on attending graduate school in the very near future does will be deeply missed by friends and families whom he was the university of washington what about yourself so i also graduated and twenty four teams out west seattle high school and would have to go to the university of washington i am studying law society and justice and hopefully i'll be pursuing law school right after and so for the next part of our plan rahm are going to look at growing up in ethiopian community and so for this segment we're going to have a student come up here and explain his perspective and experience with growing up within the ethiopian community so in a moment i'll be  so in high school he was involved in the black student union the student government mob trial national honor society and the choir drama and he even had time for tennis he volunteered for shirts across america where he spent two spring hundred six hillary clinton published a book it takes a village and other lessons children teach us in it clinton presents her vision for the children of america she focuses on the impact individuals and groups outside of the family have presidential election during his acceptance speech of the r n c republican party nominee bob dole said with all due respect i am here to tell you it does not take a village to raise a child it takes a family to raise a child but what is a family although clinton didn't coin the proverb herself the idea that it takes an entire community to socialize just one child is an idea that's manifest across the globe and growing up in this community specifically this ethiopian community has been an amazing experience that i would not trade for the world i know that i wouldn't be here without the love and support of my family in this entire community that's been with me along the way one of my earliest memories of the tour with me that he actually was course i vividly remember getting ready to leave my house holding this huge board tent up stuff back when the gathering was actually at least union street not and being able to actually volunteer and get back to the community and watch it grow while simultaneously growing up myself has been the experience that i think is unique to me as well and for example one of my favorite summers was actually when i got to help out my that can make the seemingly huge population seem small enough to fit in this room growing up in this community has taught me what it means to respect one another and truly work towards a common goal and now graduate just getting arrested in this community needs a lot more than just your money it thrives on the involvement and clabbered of spirit that found in this building in the first place and keeps us going today and as a next generation we need to grasp this in following up with that i just wanted to invite all those graduates here that it's not too late to get involved in the community there are many opportunities here at the community centers such as volunteer information such as this and we also have a youth program that needs your help and so if you would like more information about that please take check the registration table outside and now will be moving to the where are they now segment of our program this is the part where we welcome past graduates i've been involved with in this program and  see what they've accomplished and what they've been doing since their graduation let's look at what they've done and you know let's see what where they have gone you know because a couple years ago they were sitting breaking your graduate  we opened up our first cafe cafe of well if you've heard of that it's down on rainier avenue it's a it's been a long journey and it's a huge accomplishment that i've been able to  the journey is what i want to speak about in two thousand and eleven i came up with the idea to start a coffee company i did so with the inspiration of the european coffee culture that we hold and every single day in our life one day i was dropping my mom off to work and i looked to my left and i noticed the truck the truck had a huge writing on it said something something coffee i don't member what coffee company was it was that moment that i realized that there's other coffee companies out there other than starbucks that is gratian i decided hey why not open up a coffee company that represented ethiopian coffee i didn't see it i did much research i googled everything that i could any question i could use the open coffee ethiopian coffee company and i didn't really see anything that was recognized in our community so i wanted to be the first to introduce a product introduce a brand that we can all recognize something that was a little different than what starbucks or any of the other companies would it was in order to attempt to represent for our community so i did so and i studied it i studied coffee i had no history of  as others call it i called it and i made it a little different it was something that i felt like i wanted to share with the world so post graduation i came to seattle and seattle being the mecca of coffee world i explored all avenues of coffee went to every coffee shop that i can find i want to go see what it meant to seattle as a coffee culture coffee world and see what i can implement and how i can change it i also made a trip to wells able to study and go to various coffee shops and try to pick up what i could what i wanted to share with the world i came back and i bought a little convenience store down the street and i i started with the ambition to see if i can transition it into a coffee shop prior to that i ran around and look for longs i look for locations just with that with ambition i i i see the world it's built to introduce what i had studied and in two thousand and thirteen we opened up we did it with the with the support of our community even though i was unable to obtain some of the loans that i searched for that i applied for i  a crowdfunding campaign where i had me members donate and help us and raise about eight thousand dollars through the campaign and we were able to fund a lot of the equipment and things that we needed to do showcased or or or introduced into the communities and the way that i wanted to see it be introduced so you can come by and order any moment and it's just a job on its own and come to your that's my journey but needless to say i want to leave you guys in something and this is to the graduates i hope that my journey my life experiences what inspired all of you guys one of the things that i've encountered throughout my life is no no no you can't do this no you can't do that oh you know with challenges that came about i  and empower communities and make sure yes you do sign up after a while and come to the open community center and involve yoursel oh yeah if you have not been to his car you're not a regular customer i really really suggest that you go and i would also add i don't know if you mention this but his business always also one was a business of the year the university of washington and two thousand and eleven majoring in public health actually went to college thinking i was going to be good to go to medical school so i was trying to i was going to pre med route it didn't work out i went to my public health i took my first class sophomore year final quarter software year so i was kind of late even to be switching around but i loved it and i stuck with it and i figured i could help people  a broader way instead of focusing on patients individually so it worked out for me then i graduated to two years off felt confused again during that time and went to grad school so i went to georgetown in received my master's last year actually and health systems administration and came back to seattle about a month after graduating i got a short term position with the public health department downtown and i was it was like a six week position the guy that was there i was filling in for he was leaving i'm trying to leave him his wife was having a baby and i was on the hazardous waste line so people residents and businesses were calling in and asking how to dispose of their hazardous waste properly i had no background knowledge in that at all but i figured i have exposed me to another side of public health and get my foot in the door i can county so i tried it out  and then that led to a program manage our project manager management position that was also a short term position for months but i was again open to it and obviously that's a great title to have program management skills are needed in any organization any business so it was a good fit for me and then that led to my where i am now and now i'm a health and environmental investigator that's a permanent position so during that time that i was and filling in for those other temporary short term positions i was networking i was getting to know everyone in my division and seeing where else i could fit in in a more permanent role and that's what led me to where i am now and i'm actually so impel that environmental mess kit or i inspect restaurants schools and pools so i'm actually the health inspector for michael be a city so this organizations on the list actually live so i'll be i'll be making a visit  soon and you know i never thought that i would be a health inspector it's not something that i envision for myself but it's a it's a good place to be public health department i mean just being in king county in the system it's it's going to open doors for me and maybe i'll do this for a year or two but and it'll lead to something else but it's a great place to be in the meantime so i guess my message to the graduates is to don't don't wait out for like the perfect job you know you have to be open to accepting something that has any good at the very least it still it's experience is something that you put on your resume and that's that's what i had going in for to be on the phone for the  that led me to a permanent job with king county so that is my message to you guys be open internships work for free work for less than you want to work for i am in the house we sign i was making you know nothing close to what we were talking about in grad school we were graduating we're all talking about you know what kind of salary positions we're going to be having and i just i was open and that led me to where i am now and so that's my message today is just be open you martha for sharing and i don't echo something she said to her she was on the lean to and i think the college crowd is would also say this to the high school graduates networking is very very important so feel free to use the speakers that you saw you heard from talk to them afterwards talk to them when you find free time and if you have any question about their majors or their experience feel free to approach them for sure for sure and so now we're going to be switching into your high school segment of the high school with the three point seven eight g ok let me try to this is only the beginning of her future and let's all just acknowledge how to two people who supported me throughout my high school and helped me to get here where i am today my parents my friends my mentors and my teachers my name is that any better i was born and raised in a way to there was two sisters two brothers and extended family i remember when my mother made the decision to come to america to the united states on her own for the betterment of the whole family at that time i didn't really  knows because i was an outsider for most of the time and i didn't really fit in and i was able to connect with anybody who i knew because i was the only black girl in the old the classes that i take i used to give up and to believe in my dreams i hope your dreams take you to the corner of your smiles to the highest of your hopes to the window so if you are pushing east and to the most beautiful place your heart doesn't ever know thank you so she just graduated with her bachelor's science degree in informatics at the university of washington it's an edge in some time to learn what she wanted to work on towards her career she entered college testing out different classes and until she learned she enjoyed coding the best with work hard and dedication edin was not only able to master her computer science classes she was able to become using all the knowledge that she gained with her studies and she acquired her first internship at a shipping company as a software intern she's now so what do you want to do after you graduate what are your plans in college what is your major going to be i imagine most of the people here for this question probably a million times and i know you family out there have  that to all of us and for some of you maybe that comes easy maybe it's yes i want to be a doctor i thought it since i was three years older yes i want to be a lawyer but first some of us maybe it doesn't come so naturally and so i could give you a speech today about passion and say follow your passion don't let anyone say you can't do it but for some people like me i had no idea what my passion was so when i heard those things i was like ok well that sounds great but what  supposed to do and so when i started going to the university of washington again i had no idea what i wanted to do besides i want to make sure if addition for years to pay for more than four years and i want to make a lot of money because i don't want to have no money so that was all i knew and so i tried a bunch of different classes trying to figure out what i wanted i took a physics physics class and that was probably the most traumatizing experience i've ever had an a lot of advanced math and i try not to speak about that anymore so don't bring that up with me and i eventually took this computer science class and i really liked it i really enjoyed it but it was really difficult being the only black girl in your class being surrounded by a lot of boys who have been doing this since they were three who are really passionate about computers who build computers since they were five and who had parents who worked at microsoft already and so it was really hard even though i really enjoyed it and so people around me were racing all the exams and the homework without even studying or i was studying day and night and so they were getting four hours without studying and a two point seven in my class and all you parents out there another just give you like a little heart attack and it's ok to get two sevens in their classes and i totally did and so at that point i kind of had a decision to make that i could accept the fact that i wasn't talented or gifted enough computer science and move on to something else or i could be like you know what i'm going to try to get in because i really like it and i am really a true believer in that there is no  you can't really be natural in town sitting gifted and that it's more has to do with how you spend your time how you intelligently study so i ended up taking the class again setting smarter asking the right questions and was able to get a four point zero in the class not easy and after that i was working as a cashier groceries looking as a cashier at a grocery store so my resume wasn't looking too hot for internships but i applied to hundreds and hundreds of companies where again my peers were getting internships from their parents or not even having to interview but i started by e mailing all these companies having almost all of them not respond to me and then having interviews and having them email me saying like i'm not a good enough fit so again and again i felt like i wasn't at the level i needed to be but i really liked it so i was like you know i'm just going to keep going and eventually i did get my first internship it was the only company to offer me one out of the hundreds i replied to and from then i worked my way up to get my dream job at u t now that i'm here it feels like ok you made it you're done you got your job but now i'm at a point where i'm like yes that's good but i don't feel like my life has been completely fulfilled by just getting this job and so i think it's extremely important is to remember the other half of being fulfilled and that's giving back and that's giving back to your community and serving others and what i've noticed is that i'm very privileged in the life that i live now and that i was fortunate to get into higher education i'm fortunate to be healthy and i have a family that supportive in work so hard to come here to help me get this education  and study and pass those classes after all this two point whatever it is that i've got you and so it's important for all of us to understand the privileges that we do have and use a skill set find whatever your skill maybe find whatever your skill may be to use that to help give back and for me my skill now is working as well as a developer and so i'm not sure yet what that means for me to get back to the community maybe that means when i go to youtube and there's no people of color there i'm going to tell them you know you need more people of color there's too many black girls who are being pushed away from this field have this there's people who can't go into higher education because they have to drop out of school because they have to help pay for their family's housing there are so many opportunities that are missed especially for our community people of color and we need to use our privileges to get back and so when people asked me what's your plan the answer that they want is  i'm going to be working on you tube as a software engineer but for me i think my plan is a lot different in that my plan is that i want to use my skill skill set to help give back to the community as much as i can and so and so with that i really challenge you guys not only to figure out what the heck your passion might be or whatever question means but also to learn how to combine that with serving yo professional career she has become known as one of seattle's advocates for the black community and african diaspora manaul has initiated programs and projects promoting educational outreach mentorship cultural awareness access to access to higher education anti racism manaul graduated from the university of washington double majoring in health informatics and management and so she all the she then moved to atlanta to teach in low income communit teach for america and graduated from georgia state university with a masters in early childhood education though she describes her experience as an educator as an irreplaceable it was teaching that letter to understand her position and effectuating change was not meant to be from inside the classroom but instead from a position that dictated what have been outside of class or the law she believed expose she believed exposing the power of law to divers perspectives and advocacy would have a ripple effect and trickle down to benefit the people govern and often oppressed by the law since attending law school she has worked for the congressional black caucus in washington d the northwest immigrants rights project as well as a range of other legal position the most being with the supreme court of washington she is currently studying the washing she is currently studying for the washington state bar exam so please so before diving into this i wanted to share a story with you so one day my dad and i were driving from south seattle up north we're on i five north we look across the median and we see that from south seattle all the way up to north gate the traffic has not moved it's been bumper to bumper traffic they haven't moved at all the entire time once we passed north gate the traffic broke up a little bit and  we got to shoreline it was completely clear and we just saw all of these cars flying onto the freeway of winds getting on there heading north were i mean they're heading south we're heading north and i remember i looked over at my dad and i was like oh my god i cannot believe these people are getting on this freeway they're about to be so angry when they get some northgate break because nobody was moving there wasn't even a way all so then my dad turned to me and said we saw what lies ahead you know like how much i print they learn from the british so they speak very proper right so we saw what lies ahead and you feel sorry for them you wish that you could tell them get off on shoreline the shoreline exit don't get on the freeway take the back road or maybe leave your house a lot earlier that's what you want to tell them to help them avoid the struggle that we know they're going to face because we saw it and he said that's how i feel about you life teaches you lessons and i've learned most of them a lot of them already so let me help guide you yes my dad had bars his metaphors came from experience and what inspired me to reach my goal of becoming a lawyer i feel like it's going to be more beneficial to share a few things that i learned along the way that i wish i would have known when i was it would have benefited me and i wish i would known back when i was in some of the positions like high school graduation undergrad graduation and so on so i don't have a lot of time up here also let me leave you with a few things so lesson number one that i learned that was really important to me was money is addicting fast money disappears just as fast as you get it and so you have to keep your long term goals in mind don't just think about what's great now but what it will lead to and have patience in reaching your goals i remember when i first started at the university of washington and i got my first full time job i wasn't even getting paid that much but i've never seen that type of money coming in and i just i got really excited i mean i had multiple accounts i was saving you know i started a little account for my little sister because i was going to your college fund but then i end up blowing it a couple years later but whatever you know i loved it you know and my mom noticed you know you know your kids right shoes like something's going on with this girl and she told me to quit like quit your job and i didn't understand why i told her i really didn't want to and she explained to me that she seen the thirst of money pull people away from their education and there are other goals too many times she told me that having money gets addicting so you'll find yourself choosing that money over everything else if you don't make sure you're weighing your education in the more important things in life above that money so has actually she was letting me know that the short term money that i was salivating over and getting all excited over would not compare to the money that i would get down the road if i was just sticking to my bigger goals so i agree with that and you know a lot of times money drives us so i just wanted to make sure i made a point to tell you that the real money does come down the road and in retrospect i do the reason i chose this is one of the points is because in retrospect i i do see that i was placing money over my education and i was placing spending more time chasing money than i was hitting the books so watch out for that and if i did stick to that to be honest with you i probably would be making the same amount of money that i was making ten years ago so watch out for that and if you notice yourself doing it and you find yourself chasing money more than you're chasing your bigger dreams or you're chasing this short term money now but more than you're hitting the books check yourself and stop because you won't even you want to even see it coming it'll just happen second thing it's hard to figure out the next steps in life a couple of other speakers touched on this it's really hard to figure out what you're going to do next but it will always be hard it's hard for parents it's hard for the people the community if everybody's trying to figure out what am i supposed to do next but if you always move forward as long as you're always moving forward even if you're confused you'll be all right it will work out in my last semester of college i realized i didn't know what to do when i graduated i didn't know what my first job would be or what it should be i was scared to pick the wrong path i just knew that doing nothing was not an option i learned of the teach for america program that sends people to teach in inner city schools across the united states although i never considered a career in education my intuition made me feel like this would be my next step even though i wasn't sure i had a feeling and i found myself moving across the country for this program it was between taking that leap and sitting around and trying to figure out what my next step was so i made the leap and moving forward despite being unsure of my next step opened up doors that allowed me to get my master's degree through that program and i didn't even know that upon applying but i applied and it opened doors gave me a ten thousand dollars scholarship that i didn't even know about when i applied all these doors opened there and the experiences that i had in moving were some of the greatest like highlights of my life to this day the third thing i would say is just go after things don't put yourself in the position to wonder what if my thoughts personally can be a little obsessive so i can't deal with wondering what if i did it what if i did i need to just do it and know that i made it or a failed and when i failed it pushed me to something that was worth it don't leave yourself with the what if in applying to law school people were telling me studying for the else that was going to be too much everybody was encouraging me to apply the following year because during the daytime i was a full time teacher at night time i was in a master's program and they're like oh this is going to be too too much for you just wait until next year they were right it was a lot and it almost broke me  but i had to do it because i thought what if i just went for it what if i got into school would have been worth waiting around just another year trying to wait for the perfect time or to figure it out and what's the worst that can happen the law school says no that's way better than me sitting with my obsessive what if thoughts for the next year you know i don't want to sit there and as we constantly thinking about that so i took the l sat and boy did i get a mediocre grade i mean like my score w then i was advised not to apply you know spare yourself like it's going to mess up your self esteem like don't you know it just wait until next year because you have a better chance of getting in if you have a higher score mind you i was sleep deprived as i don't even know what at that point so i was like no we're going to make this worth something but again i also was plagued with those thoughts well should i like what if i did apply right now would the law schools accept me what's the worst that could happen maybe they say no it's better than my what it's like you know i mean all that's going to happen and again and so i just applied and my first whole lot of letters were rejections rejections on rejection my god it was just rejections and then i got on a waiting list for one school and was like you know i don't even know if i want to go to law school anywhere like i don't even sign that there's you know you started you know you're having your in your feelings so i was all the way in my feeling and then finally i got accepted to two reputable schools at the end of it and that was the moment where i was like what's meant for you is already yours just apply and see if that things meant for you the rejection just means that's not meant for you figured out to supply cares right thank you so for the sake of time i won't get into any more stories but i'll leave you with two more life lessons that i feel like what helped me before one don't rely on others to give you positive affirmation create a problem like literally listen on this point create it yourself create a positive strong self image and believe that about yourself from the bottom of your heart wholeheartedly regardless of what anybody tells you human beings have an inherent sub conscious desire to be the person that they think they are good or bad we as humans will find a way to make that self image a reality so be careful about what you think about yourself or be careful about what you internalize about what other people think about you remember nobody knows you as closely and intimately as you know but my last point is that when you see someone in a position you want to be in one day if somebody for some reason exemplifies the goal of yours or something like that take the time to meet them because firstly there are protests there a potential network that will open doors for you and help push you towards your goal if not connect you to somebody who will secondly seven times out of ten if you ask somebody how they got to where they are and they give you a play by play well first i did this and then i did that and all you got to do is do what they did seven times out of ten you will be in the same position as them if not better just talk to people after people love talking about themselves just you know just ask them you know for coffee or something like what did you do it take notes and if you're completely lost i don't know where to start start with whatever it is that they did and you'll get there if not somewhere better that note if any one of you are curious about what i was actually supposed to come up here and talk about please feel free to talk to me after this i'll be here hanging out i would love to chat and again class  twenty six team congratulations and me there be no traffic on the way to your destinat