Student Speaker Tamam WC TAMAM W. WARITU will receive his Bachelor of Arts in international studies and black studies with a minor in sociology and civic leadership. He was born and raised in East Africa, Ethiopia, and has lived in Portland for eight years. Mr. Waritu is a McNair Scholar and serves as president of the Gadab Foundation, a nonprofit organization he started two years ago to award scholarships to students in his hometown. While earning his degree, Mr. Waritu held an internship at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine in the Office of Diversity Affairs. He has served as a mentor for low-income middle and high school students in the GEAR UP program. Mr. Waritu has also been actively involved in the Portland State community. He is a student employee in the Office of Admissions and has been part of the Student Recruitment Team, working with admissions counselors to help recruit diverse populations of students to Portland State. He has served as a student senator, and has been a treasurer for the NAACP Chapter at PSU. He briefly served in the Student Leaders for Service program and has been a member of Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society. He is a recipient of the Portland State University Diversity Recognition Scholarship, Black United Fund of Oregon Scholarship, and President’s Award for Outstanding Community Engagement. This fall, Mr. Waritu will begin work on his master’s degree in the Graduate School of Education at Portland State. Following that, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in educational leadership, administration, and policy and eventually become a college professor. Mr. Waritu says that he owes his success to his family and friends as well as to his professors and mentors. He thanks his co-workers at the Office of Admissions, particularly Linda Etter, for being so supportive. 7
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