Every year, ICS awards scholarships to high-achieving 9th-grade students from local schools throughout Addis Ababa. ICS begins the selection process by sending invitations to 400 local schools. Invited schools may then elect to send their top-performing 8th-grade students to sit for a three-hour-long Maths, English, and cognitive ability examination at ICS. This year, 350 scholarship candidates sat the exam, out of which 10 were shortlisted and interviewed. Ultimately, 4 students were selected for the award.
Among these 4, is Feven, who comes to ICS from Dream Success school from the Jomo area. Feven’s story is remarkable because she comes from a school that is not typically well known - even the Dream Success Principal was surprised to learn that one of his students had been granted the award.
According to Sisay Zewde, the ICS Scholarship Coordinator, the Principal of Dream Success was overjoyed to hear the news. “They had applied for scholarships for their students for many years and had lost confidence that their application would ever be considered. The principal told me they even believed the scholarship invitation was fake! Now his confidence has been restored.”
While it is obvious that Feven is a bright student and mature for her age, she tells us she is no different than her classmates. “I am not smarter than any other student”, she says, “I pay attention in class and I regularly study throughout the year, not just when I have an exam!”
She also took time to acknowledge her parents, saying, “My mom supported me in my studies and made sure I knew the importance of my education well enough that I didn’t need reminders to study. My parents believe that grades and academic rank are not that important and were more interested in what I learned.”
Though it has only been two weeks since school started, Feven has already made some friends and is enjoying her classes at ICS. She is particularly enjoying her elective classes – visual arts, multimedia, and guitar. She is looking forward to learning more and is eager to see how her classes will progress throughout the year.
At ICS, our scholarship students are actively involved in numerous academic and community events. Among others, they produce, direct, and star in the annual Azmari Night and Amharic Play, and help to organize the Community Garage Sale, and ICS International Day. Through these events, students are able to raise funds for school trips and activities while learning valuable planning and organizational skills.
Each year, we have 16 scholarship students across grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. Our scholarship students have always demonstrated high levels of participation as well as service to the school and community, and many have gone on to enroll in prestigious higher education institutions around the world.
For more information about our Scholarship Program, please visit https://www.icsaddis.org/discover/scholarship-program or contact our Scholarship Program Coordinator, Sisay Zewde at sisay.zewde@icsaddis.org.