OPENING GENERAL SESSION:

Wednesday, May 9
9:30 am - 11:00 am

From Refugee Camp to Harvard University: Nothing Is Impossible
Mawi Asgedom will share how he went from living in a Sudanese refugee camp to graduating from Harvard University as the Commencement Speaker. Mawi will also describe his own mother's struggle to learn English and rejuvenate attendees with his humorous and inspiring stories of the immigrant experience and the pivotal role of community organizations. Prepare to be inspired.

Mawi Asgedom
Mawi Asgedom has written eight books that are used in thousands of classrooms across America, and spoken to over 1,000,000 students and educators in more than forty states. A nationally recognized educator, Mawi has trained leaders at The Harvard School of Education and numerous international conferences.

As a child, Mawi fled civil war in Ethiopia and survived a Sudanese refugee camp for three years. After being resettled in The United States, he overcame poverty, language barriers and personal tragedy to graduate from Harvard University, where he gave the Commencement address to an audience of 30,000. Mawi’s bestselling memoir, Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard, has been read as a one-book, one-community reading selection by thousands of schools and communities.

Many media outlets have featured Mawi including:

• The Oprah Winfrey Show, “One of the Twenty Best Moments of Oprah’s Career”
• ESSENCE, “One of the 40 Most Inspiring African-Americans"
• Chicago Tribune, NPR, Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Harvard Magazine, Ebony Magazine