Standout Student: North Hennepin’s Abshir Mohamed
Abshir Mohamed’s interest in electrical engineering first sparked while he was in an Ethiopian refugee camp. He had fled Somalia’s civil war and the electricity kept going out in the camp. He needed a light to complete his homework, so he created a simple circuit board.
Now Mohamed is studying pre-engineering at North Hennepin Community College. He is a semifinalist for a scholarship that would allow him to transfer and complete his bachelor’s degree. There are more than 400 semifinalists who were chosen from a pool of more than 1,500 applicants from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. Cooke scholars must have excellent academics and demonstrate unmet financial need. Mohamed has already been accepted to Minnesota State University-Mankato, but says he cannot attend yet.
On campus, Mohamed is a member of the Phi Kappa Theta honors society and the L.E.A.D. program (Leadership through Experience, Awareness and Development).
He learns whether or not he will win the scholarship in April.
Someday after Mohamed becomes an electrical engineer, he hopes to go back to Ethiopia and help with the electrical need there.
