ADC

Off to Northeastern! Meet Yanet Tesfaye (ADC 2026), an Ethio-Eritrean American born in Alexandria, Virginia, now living in Lorton, Virginia. Yanet Tesfaye is a highly motivated senior with strong academic and extracurricular involvement. Maintaining a 4.0+ at South County High School, Yanet continues to challenge herself with a multitude of AP and rigorous college-level classes such as AP Research, AP US History, AP Chemistry, AP English Lang/Composition, AP Government, AP Physics CM, AP Calculus BC, DE Entrepreneurship, English Comp DE, and many more. Yanet is also a president of her local Habesha tutoring club, Vice President of her schools African Student Association, Vice President of her schools Pathways2Progress, and a competitor for her schools’ Model UN, Quiz Bowl, and Technology Student Association chapters.
With her passion in business administration, Yanet Tesfaye has pursued opportunities to support this career path through her job, high level classes, and extracurriculars. For example, she got into DECA this past year and made her way up to ICDC as a competitor in Business Services Marketing, taking 100 question tests and practice tests as well as roleplays that require a calm and focused mindset. These experiences have allowed Yanet to gain much needed skills in public speaking, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration, connecting an academic interest with real-world skills.
Something that has deeply shaped Yanet’s interest in the medical field, her grandfather's hospitalisation had been really hard on her as he had begun to lose his memory, getting better only after hospital staff began interacting with him and kindly supporting his way to a full recovery. This experience inspired her to volunteer at Virginia’s largest hospital, Fairfax Medical Campus. Through this volunteering, Yanet has been able to support grieving, happy, and healthy hospital goers in the Gift Shop, having conversations with people she never would’ve met or spoken with otherwise. While managing the finances and transactions, Yanet has been able to efficiently lead and independently run Virginia’s biggest gift shop on her own.
Besides academics and volunteering, Yanet is actively involved in her culture and its community. As president of the United Ethiopian Committee’s Habesha Kid’s Club, Yanet has been able to lead 100+ students and tutors throughout the year while running its highly effective weekly tutoring service. HKC requires a commitment to leadership, communication, and funding that Yanet has been able to pursue and commit while still maintaining a great relationship with all the children. As she is organizing attendance, other leaders, and acquiring new volunteers to tutor, Yanet has also managed to partner this club with her school’s DECA chapter to run a small fundraiser for books, school supplies, and snacks for the children. Additionally, she participates in her church community as a Worship Leader in her Youth Community, giving sermons, singing, and leading the program through the year.
In her free time, Yanet enjoys baking, reading, and playing video games, as well as being an avid gym-goer, which brings balance and relaxation to her life. Looking to her future, Yanet aspires to fulfill her education in Business Administration and get her masters, taking and utilizing this education to expand her parents’ medical business to its highest potential and explore new ventures.

Off to UPenn. Meet Melat Beniyam. An ambitious student and engaged community member, Melat's passion for law, leadership, and community service drives her to hold leadership roles in numerous clubs, be an active member in several charity organizations, and pursue real-world experiences to prepare herself for her future. An avid debater, she has been a captain on her debate team going on 3 years and has competed in her local, regional, super regional, and states tournaments numerous times. She has explored her interest in law and politics interning in the office of Elizabeth Guzmán, where her duties include performing essential voter outreach, office functions, and networking with local policy makers. As an active officer in various school clubs, leadership roles she holds in her school include Math Honor Society president, East African Student Association president, and Hugh O’ Brian Youth Leadership Mentor. Moreover, she acknowledges the importance of philanthropy, evident in her role of co-president and founding member of Rise Up Lijoch, a student-led charity organization dedicated to improving the lives of Ethiopian students by providing school supplies to underprivileged schools in Ethiopia. Over the past 2 years, the organization has raised over $4,000, hosted numerous fundraisers in collaboration with local businesses, donated hundreds of educational supplies to Ethiopia, and gained hundreds of supporters. Additionally, she is a regular volunteer at St. Thomas UMC Food Pantry, where she has had the opportunity to aid in the distribution of food supplies to families in need. These experiences have ignited a love for community service and volunteerism, which Melat intends to further develop. Mentorship is also a passion of hers, as she participates in tutoring and mentorship programs in National Social Studies Honor Society, Math Honor Society, and National Honor Society.