After his father\u2019s death, he and his\nsiblings were forced to move eight hours southeast\u2014from the Gojjam region of\nEthiopia to the country\u2019s capital, Addis Ababa\u2014to\nlive with their aunt. For two years, his aunt sacrificed all she could to\nprovide for her nieces and nephews, but it wasn\u2019t enough. She had to give them\nup for adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kisiel was sent an orphanage in the city, where he would remain until fate found him a family three years\nlater. Out of the four million orphans in Ethiopia (200 of which at his orphanage),\nthe Arizona couple looking to adopt chose him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was beyond ecstatic to find out\nthat I was being adopted by a wonderful family from America, though I knew that\nwould mean a completely different life,\u201d he said. \u201cMoving to a country with a\nnew language, food, culture, family and atmosphere would not be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With his new family in hand, he embraced the change and\nmoved to Phoenix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He started high school, made friends, ran track and field\nand excelled academically. Then, came time for college\u2014something he hadn\u2019t even\nconsidered in his wildest dreams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With the help of her parents, he narrowed it down to two\nschools: University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI set up visits to both places\nand I happened to visit NAU first. After visiting the campus and meeting people,\nI fell in love. I knew that I would fit in, and the people I met all seemed to\ncare about students and student success. At the end of the visit, I told\nmy mom to cancel the visit to U of A\u2014I knew I wanted to be a Lumberjack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like most college experiences, Kisiel had ups and downs. At\ntimes, he felt overwhelmed by his workload and called his mother in tears,\nlooking for words of affirmation and encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs difficult as college was at\nsome points, I was determined to finish and finish successfully. I want to make\nthose people that love and care about me, who sacrificed everything for me to\nbe here, proud. For some, a college degree might not mean much, but to me, it\nis everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kisiel, who is graduating with a degree in fitness wellness,\nis the first in his biological family to attend an institute of higher\neducation, let alone graduate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He plans to be a health coach and earn a master\u2019s degree in\npublic health or exercise physiology, but not before traveling to his home\ncountry to visit his friends and family and thank his aunt in person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe still hates herself to this day for being forced to put me up for adoption, but what she does not understand is that because of her, new doors and opportunities opened up for me. I would not be where I am today if it was not for her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Carly Banks | NAU Communications![\"\"](\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/IMG_6591-e1556900592267-906x1024.jpg\")
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(928) 523-5582 | carly.banks@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"