Columbia (WTLX) -- Aden Maybruk is the first Somali Bantu student in Richland School District Two to be inducted into the National Honor Society.
While exercising with classmates during gym class, there was something that Aden Maybruk's classmates knew that he didn't: his age.
"Now they say I'm 18, but I'm lesser than 18," he said.
Maybruk was born in Somalia and raised in Kenya.
"In Somalia, they didn't have any government at that time, so nobody kept the date of birth contract."
He came to America with his mother and four siblings five years ago.
Running with the cross country team, riding the school bus, working hard with a tutor are all things he can enjoy now that weren't offered at his school in Africa.
"It's maybe 20 miles from the village we live, so you have to walk all the way, and sometimes it's not always safe to walk all the way," he said.
His teacher, Vickie Westbrook, said Maybruk is an excellent student.
"I have never seen an adult as much as a student who wanted to learn as much as Aden Maybruk," she said.
"He wants to be with other students that want to learn."
She described Maybruk as having high moral standards.
"He's not a follower, f he thinks it's something that he shouldn't be doing."
Westbrook added, "I can see him as an ambassador. He just has an excellent personality."
Maybruk says his hard work has a purpose. His father, who passed away before his family reached America, wanted to help people in Africa. He does too.
He wants to return to Kenya to teach English to kids so they too can make more of their education.
"I just don't know any way there is to describe how much it means to me," he said. "Help those kids, teach them how to speak English, and then maybe they can go to secondary school."
2/10/2009 4:00:19 PM
