In the summer of 1999, a student named Wubeshet Mehari at Marymount University founded the Ethiopian Student Association International (ESAI). He began his mission by contacting and conversing with different Ethiopian Student Associations/Unions in the Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas and shared his idea of building a bridge between different groups in order to find strength through united goals. His mission included opening communication channels, creating grounded connections, and carrying out joint projects in order to implement a strong network of Ethiopian students.

By September, 1999, Wubeshet and his brother, Kiber, had created a web site and a listserv for the new organization. In the following months, Wubeshet was joined by Aida Muluneh, Yared Mussie and representatives of most of the ESA's in the D.C. area to promote ESAI. By the end of the following year, ESAI had over 2000 registered members.

Some of the other leaders who helped promote ESAI were Salem T. Gugsa, Nolawi Tadesse, Mekdem Wondafrash, Meklit Berhan, Nahom Beyene, Konjit Zenas, Lilly Assefa, Hiruy Abdu, Hilena Hailu, Robel Kassa, Befekadu Ayenew.

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The Ethiopian Students Association International is established for the expressed purpose of developing skills such as leadership, organization, communication, public speech, creativity, and accountability.

Moreover, ESAI is established to share the current events of the Ethiopian communities worldwide by recognizing problems within our own community and developing alternate courses of action to solve these problems.

ESAI is a non-political and non-religious organization.

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Our mission is to bring the Ethiopian Students in North America and all over the world together to build a strong bond between students and the Ethiopian community.

We are dedicated to bringing Ethiopians together to provide easy access in exchanging ideas and to work jointly in giving aid to our country.

We strive to make actual contributions for the advancement of our people by defining our problems, gathering information, generating feasible solutions, and choosing a course of action.

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1. ESAI executive board, representatives, general members
2. Exisiting Ethiopian student organizations
3. Ethiopian students and others interested in helping Ethiopia
4. Current organizations working to improve Ethiopia's future

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• Literature Contest
• Leadership Training
• Books to Ethiopia
• Google Amharic
• Ethio Study: a twenty minute history lecture followed by a discussion.
  
  • Topics include:
    
    • The backgrounds of successful Ethiopians
    • Brain drain of Ethiopia
    • Spriritual advancement versus technological backwardness

More at: http://www.esai.org/myESAi/viewforum.php?f=69

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Goals:

- Create a network for communication among all Ethiopian students and their associations
- Innovate new pathways for students to give aid to Ethiopia
- Increase the number of educated Ethiopians by making information more available to those interested in going to school

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1st Summit:
March 31 - April 1, 2001
Host ESA: ESA-VCU
Host School: Virginia Commonwealth University
Venue: VCU, Richmond, VA
Keynote Speaker: Professor Ephraim Issac

2nd Summit:
Date: March 22-24, 2002
Host ESA: ESA-Atlanta (Ethiopian Students Association of Atlanta)
Host School: Georgia State University
Venue: Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Brook Lakew

3rd Summit:
Date: March 28-30, 2003
Host ESAs: Berkeley ESU, Stanford ESU, San Jose State University ESA (Bay Area Ethiopian Student Associations)
Host School: University of California-Berkeley
Host City: Berkeley, CA
Keynote Speaker: Selamawi "Mawi" Asgedom
Theme: Ha, Hu, Hi, Ha...Ye'idget Megemeria (First Steps Towards Development)

4th Summit:
March 26-28, 2004
Host ESA: ESA-MN (Universit of Minnesota ESA)
Host School: University of Minnesota
Host City: St. Paul, MN
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Tamrat Tademe

5th Summit:
March 25-27, 2005
Host ESA: ESUM (Ethiopian Students Union of Massachusetts)
Host School: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Host City: Boston, MA
Keynote Speaker: Artist Alemtsehaye Wodajo

6th Summit:
March 24-26, 2006
Host ESA: ESA-UMD
Venue: University of Maryland College Park
Keynote Speaker 1: Enawgaw Mehari, MD
Keynote Speaker 2: Noah Samara, JD
Theme: Empowering the Youth

7th Summit:
March 23 - 25, 2007
Host: ESAA, Ethiopian Students Association of Atlanta (Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Georgia Perimeter)
Venue: Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, Georgia
Keynote Speaker: Professor Ephraim Issac
Theme: The New Millennium

8th Summit:
March 28 - 30, 2008
Host: ESA-GMU
Venue: George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Keynote Speaker: Ingida Asfaw, MD
Theme: Looking Back - Leaping Forward

9th Summit:
March 26-29, 2009
Host: Alliance of Ethiopian Students at the University of Cincinnati
Venue: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Keynote Speaker: Tessema Guebrexabiher, PhD
Theme: Zemene Hidassie

10th Summit:
March 25-28, 2010
Host: Toronto Ethiopian Collaborative
Venue: Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Keynote Speaker: Samson Teffera, PMP 
Theme: iNetwork: Empowering the Next Generation

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Current Executives

President: Ramala Andemariam
Vice President: Tseganesh Tamrat
Internal Affairs Secretary:  Makeda Agonafer
External Affairs Secretary: Melhik Gebremichael
Treasurer: Mesfin Sileshi

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