Bereket Debebe, Staff Writer
If you speak a language other than English, then you know how important it is to one’s identity. For Paint Branch senior Bereket Debebe that begins with the language of Amharic, which he has been speaking his whole life . His exposure to Amharic comes from Ethiopia, a small country in the horn of Africa where he was born and his parents are originally from.
Even though he and his family are from Ethiopia, they have resided in Maryland for around 13 years. Other than spending time in the U.S. and his native Ethiopia, he likes to vacation in Finland where he spent a few weeks this past summer going on daily jogs in his mornings to catch the sunrises or using trains to look at the farmland of the country. he likes to use Instagram the most in terms of posting content, something he did a lot more during his trip to show everyone at home what he was doing. During numerous plane, car and train rides throughout the summer, he listened to a lot of music to pass the time. As for what he was listening to, he notes that his favorite solo artist is Lucki , a hip hop musician with popular songs like¨ Kapital Denim¨ and ¨Super Urus¨ just to name a few.
He enjoyed many different cuisines while on his trip to Finland but Medium Rare, a restaurant in Washington, D.C remains his favorite. He is a big red meat fan and he cannot get enough of this steakhouse.
If his life were a song, he mentions that the title of the song would be “Continuous Progress.” He mentions this to show how involved he is in bettering himself day by day. This thinking aligns with his spirituality as he is a devoted Orthodox Christian. In fact, if he could have coffee with any one person, he says he would choose God in human form. He exclaims that he would want to speak with his god and explain his everyday troubles while also noting the joys he endures along the way.
He endures this joy with sometimes bright colors and other times not so much, which makes sense as his two favorite colors are black and purple which he notes usually represent his mood and how it can swing from time to time in an instant. Perhaps most importantly for this Panther senior is that he wants to be remembered as a kind person. His goal in this sits well with his thinking that he always wants to be remembered for good.
By: Omar Akbari
