Senior Gelila Tadele plans to major in biology on a pre-med track, and is looking at colleges in California after she graduates this spring. She hopes to eventually end up in medical school, a goal driven by her desire to support her parents.
“I want to be able to give back to my parents and my family just because they’ve sacrificed so much for me coming here from Ethiopia,” she said. “I just want to be successful to make them proud, so that’s my main goal in life.”
Tadele’s parents immigrated from Ethiopia and “didn’t have an easy life at first,” she said. However, seeing how they have persevered and become successful “has shaped my morals and my goals as a person, which is also what really makes me want to strive for success,” Tadele said.
Tadele also volunteers at a nonprofit called Kemant Studies Development in North America. It’s run through her church, where her dad is one of the board members who built and became the co-founder of this organization, along with other board members.
“It’s a nonprofit that raises money to help the underprivileged people of Ethiopia,” she said. “It’s really rewarding to see how much it actually helps them.”
Tadele does lots of community service. In addition to working with the nonprofit her dad co-founded, since junior year she has been volunteering at Kaiser Permanente Hospital, where she helps nurses, patients, and shadows doctors.
As the leader of the Black Student Union and a member of Leadership class, she was put on the Black History Month committee, working to help plan the Black History Month assembly. From there, Tadele began developing scripts with other committee members and invited Mr. C.S. Sheffield, along with student speakers, to talk at the assembly, which was hosted in the gym on Feb. 9.
“It was really rewarding to see the [finished product] because I think it turned out really well,” Tadele said.
She said the best advice she would give a newcomer or freshman is to “just cherish it, make as many memories with your friends as you can, and try to avoid drama because in the end it’s really not worth it.”
In her last semester of high school, Tadele is looking forward to prom, ending on a good note, and making memories that she can hold onto after graduation.
One of her main goals — for both high school and college — is to maintain a position in life where she is happy, content, and healthy.
Tadele is growing her skills as an artist since she joined AP studio art this year, and has spent a lot of time painting because it acts “like a stress reliever for me,” she said. In regards to academics, she takes AP English IV, AP Studio Art, Marine Biology, AP Government, Lasallian Ministry, and Leadership.
What she likes most about La Salle is the opportunities it offers and how “it sets you up for success,” she said.
She enjoys how you can build relationships with teachers, friendships that she hopes to last, and how “it’s a good community,” Tadele said.
