From Kenya to Columbia, MCC student lives dream Student receives free ride to college after childhood in Nairobi BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer COURTESY OF MIDDLESEX COUNYY COLLEGE Recent Middlesex County College graduate Namema Amendi, 21, moved to the United States from Kenya in 2005 with a dream to attend Columbia University in New York City. This May, Amendi's dream came true. WOODBRIDGE - The sky's the limit. That's what Donna Marie Gardner, a professor at Middlesex County College in Edison, said to 21-year-old Namema Amendi. Amendi moved to the United States from Kenya in 2005, with a dream to attend Columbia University in New York City. "It was probably destiny that my first class at 8 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2005, was general biology with Mrs. Gardner," said Amendi. Gardner attended Middlesex County College and transferred to Columbia University and received her bachelor's degree from Columbia's Teachers College. "She pushed my ability and I did all the work," said Amendi, who graduated from Middlesex County College with a concentration in chemistry this spring. Amendi pushed himself hard with the direction of Gardner, and in the end, with a 3.981 grade-point average, it all paid off. In May, Amendi received an acceptance letter from the Ivy League school. "I look forward to studying pre-medicine and going to the medical school [Columbia's School of Physicians and Surgeons]," he said. Amendi was still living in Kenya when he happened upon Columbia University as he was surfing the Web site usnews.com. "It said Columbia University was the most expensive Ivy League school," said Amendi. "I said to myself, well, if it's the most expensive, I would want to go there. I started thinking about how I would get in and pay to go there." In June, Amendi's questions were answered. Amendi was one of 51 students across the nation to receive the 2007 Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, which is the largest and most prestigious scholarship in the nation for students transferring from a community college to a four-year institution. "We are allowed to send our top two applicants for the scholarship," said Sheema Majiduddin, chair of the college's Jack Kent Cooke committee. "We sent out two very strong applications this year, and they chose Namema." The Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program was designed to help community college students with exceptional promise and demonstrated financial need make the transition to four-year colleges or universities. "For many low-income, motivated students, community college is an essential part of their plan to eventually obtain a bachelor's degree," said Dr. Matthew Quinn, the foundation's executive director. "Our 2007 undergraduate transfer scholars share the ability and willingness to prevail over many limitations, including pressing financial need," he said. "We're pleased to help them realize the next step in their educational development." The awards can total up to $30,000 per year for up to three years. Amendi is the first student at MCC to receive the scholarship since the college started participating in the scholarship three years ago. "This is a great honor for Namema and for the college," said Majiduddin. "Cooke receives about 800 applications and awards 50 scholarships," she said. "It is extremely competitive and also rewarding. The staff of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation will work with him to make sure he can spend all his time studying. They don't want him to be worrying about tuition or expenses for the next two years." Lori Johnson, coordinator of the college's Minority Access to the Professions (MAPS) program, called Amendi an outstanding student who excelled as a peer leader and tutor. "He is the type of student an adviser dreams about," she said. Amendi's story starts in Nairobi, Kenya. The country is off the east coast of Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean between Somalia and Tanzania. "I was born in Nairobi [capital of Kenya] and spent 15 years there until I moved to Kakamega, which is a small town," he said. Amendi described Kenya as "very warm." "The country is right on the equator," he said. "Our coldest month is in July when it gets to be 70 degrees. When we came to the U.S. in February [2005], it was so cold." Amendi also said the schools in Kenya are great; however, there were not a lot of resources for the students. "There was a lot of competition," he said. "The little that we had, it was always neck to neck." Amendi's desire to become a doctor began in his early years of high school, but at first he had sights on becoming a lawyer and an activist. His turning point was volunteering for the St. John's Ambulance for his high school's community service requirements. St. John's Ambulance is an international organization dedicated to the teaching and practice of medical first aid and the provision of ambulance services. Amendi wrote in his entrance essay to Columbia University titled "Roadmap to the Ivy and Beyond: The Cultivation of a Mind and the Nurturing of a Dream" that the program allowed him to immerse himself into a different world of suffering and struggle - a world of diseases - AIDS, malaria, cancer, typhoid, tuberculosis, that existed in his community. "For two years, I cared for those affected, and in my own small way provided a battlefront against these diseases," said Amendi in his essay. "Needless to say, from then on I knew where I was headed. I was not going to spend my life fighting against men, but rather fighting against the diseases that threatened the existence of the very men." In 2002, Amendi's mother, Mary Embalabala, came to the United States to visit her brother, Peter Embalabala. "My mother was fascinated with the United States and saw great opportunities for me and my brother and sister," Amendi said . Embalabala said her dream for her children has become "much more true than she thought." "By coming to the United States, I wanted to provide the best education for my children," she said. "Namema has worked very hard and I am very proud of him. I am grateful to the college for their support and opportunity for him. We will continue our support and encourage Namema at Columbia." Amendi hit a few snags in his dream because by March 2004, he was already accepted into an engineering college in Kenya. "I knew I didn't want to study engineering," said Amendi, who sent the school a rejection letter. Amendi moved to the United States in February 2005 and now resides in the Avenel section of Woodbridge with his family. Amendi described his two years at Middlesex County College as "the best two years of my life." "People have made me feel so comfortable and the college has been my home away from home," he said. Amendi participated in Phi Beta Kappa, the college's international honor society for two-year colleges, where he became vice president and was in charge of its tutoring program and the MAPS. "The MAPS program helped me settle down into the college," he said. Amendi said he thinks of MCC as a ladder with just additional rungs on it compared to a regular four-year college. "The college has given me a lot of opportunities, and it's diverse socially and economically," he said. "The value of education I received from MCC has been nothing but excellent - it's not watered down. I know I am very well prepared to attend Columbia." Amendi, who will be working at the New Jersey Institute of Technology this summer as a mentor, said he is looking forward to attending Columbia University in the fall. "I am leaning towards plastic surgery," said Amendi, who plans to stay and work in the United States. "There are so many war victims out there. It's about helping the global population, and I hope to touch as many lives as possible."