'Never Late'
Demekech Feyissa ready for graduation

The year was 2005, and Demekech (Deme) Feyissa was living in her hometown of Bale, a region in southeast Ethiopia, best known as home of Dinsho National Park, which draws thousands from around the world each year.

Deme was teaching chemistry (she had earned bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and education at nearby Jimma University) and caring for her two daughters, Bonny and Hiren. Her husband, Kebede Gemene, had left the country to study chemistry at the doctoral level at Purdue University.

“He was here for two years and I was back there with my two girls,” Deme says. “I was looking to go to graduate school there, but it was a tough time. My younger daughter, Hiren, was only 10 months old. I was looking for an opportunity, but things were tough.”

That’s when Kebede suggested that Deme join him in America and continue her education here. As a graduate student in America, he could bring Deme and the girls under his student visa. 

Deme came to the United States and set a goal for herself to finish graduate school in two years.

“But after I came here,” she says, “life wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Raising two little kids, going back to school and all of the other requirements to fulfill, and he’s at school. I wasn’t a resident or anything at that time, so I decided to put myself on hold and focus on my family.”

Deme poured into her children, pushing them to work hard in school.

“I put myself down and let them go up,” she says. “So I sat with them as a teacher. I let them study and tested them. It wasn’t all me – they are good kids. They went to great schools and they followed the rules and did what they were supposed to do.”

Eventually, Kebede would earn his PhD from Purdue and complete post-doctorate work at the University of Michigan. He and Deme would complete all of the requirements to earn their green cards and become permanent U.S. residents.

While Deme didn’t accomplish her goal of finishing graduate school in two years, she was able to teach her daughters (and later, her son Ebba, who is now in the sixth grade) the importance of education.

Once the girls were older, Deme would have the freedom to once again explore continuing her education. But she had something important to figure out first. “Now my question was, which way should I go?,” she says. “Chemistry? That’s more in my hand, but can I make my living easier doing chemistry? Maybe teaching chemistry here?

“Or maybe go into some other industry,” she continues. “Is that possible? My husband is going into the teaching profession. How can we manage our kids? There were still a lot of questions.”

Deme says she “thought very, very, very, very, very hard about that” and concluded that a career in chemistry or teaching chemistry wouldn’t give her the flexibility she desired.

She settled on accounting.

“I like accounting,” Deme says, unable to control the smile rapidly spreading across her face. “I like math. Math is my thing.”

Deme had minored in math and physics at Jimma, and still loved mathematics.

“Numbers are my thing,” she giggles. “I just love working with numbers.”

Kebede accepted a job teaching chemistry at Northern Kentucky University and the family settled into Northern Kentucky, choosing to live in Fort Thomas based on the quality of its school district.

Deme enrolled at NKU and earned her bachelor’s in accounting in 2016. She accepted a position as an accounts-receiving specialist at Sanitation District No. 1 the following year.

The time had finally come for Deme to accomplish her goal of earning a graduate degree, but there was still one problem. Her oldest daughter, Bonny, was heading to Harvard University to study cellular and microbiology. Her younger daughter, Hiren, was following in Bonny’s footsteps and already thinking about Harvard herself.

Things were going to be tight.

Deme had heard about SD1’s tuition assistance program, but assumed the program was restricted to undergraduate study. One day, she finally asked her boss, Ashley Bode, about the program. 

“I thought it wasn’t going to be affordable, so I said let [her daughters] go first,” she says. “But then one day I just figured why not ask Ashley? The worst she can say is it doesn’t apply, right?”

Ashley told her the program was for everyone at SD1 – at all levels of education. “I worked here for three years and didn’t ask,” Deme says. “I should have already been done!” she says, laughing. “I’m very lucky I have Ashley as a manager. That is why I stay here.”

Deme enrolled in NKU’s Master of Accountancy Professional Track and loved it. 

“It’s been very good,” she says. “It’s very hard, but it’s interesting. I was working full-time and am proud that I did this without any absences or coming in late. I give priority to my work – that’s how I live, right? My work is what I need, my priority. And then my school is on the side. I managed it.

“I was using my evenings and weekends,” she says. “I gave up my weekends for five semesters; every Friday evening I started my schoolwork and I would complete my assignments, my exams and my quizzes every weekend. I just did my thing. When I’d cook, I’d have earphones in listening to my class lectures. When I’d do laundry, I’d listen to lectures.”

She says studying at NKU was a very positive experience and praises the faculty who helped her succeed. “It’s really a wonderful place,” she says. “And the professors are wonderful and are easy to reach out to when you need help.

And as Deme continued her graduate studies, things started to click for her. 

“It was so helpful because at this level, it’s all application,” she says. “It’s not about learning theory. It’s about how to apply what we learned during undergraduate studies. And if this question comes – how do we do this if this particular thing comes up? Or what would we do if this happened? And I’d have to look around – even if it’s not something that I’m working on here – I’d have to look at all sides and levels. So managerial accounting, I’d have to go to management and ask, ‘What would you do as a manager?’ ‘If you are an auditor, what would you do?’ I put myself in the auditor’s place as a student and then dig in to learn about what mistakes people make, and if mistakes are made, how do we correct them?”  

This Sunday, May 5, Deme will cross the stage at Truist Arena, shake NKU President Cady Short-Thompson’s hand, and receive her Master of Accountancy. Later this month, Hiren will join Bonny as a Harvard alumna, participating in Harvard’s 373rd Commencement Exercises, earning her degree in social studies.

“You know what makes me happy now?” Deme says, that smile returning. “My youngest daughter was three years old when we came to America and now I’m graduating with her. I sent her to kindergarten and she went all the way. She’s getting her bachelor’s degree and I’m getting my master’s degree. That was the goal. I didn’t do it in two years, but that was the goal.”

But Deme wouldn’t change a thing.

“It’s never late,” she says. “It’s never late. You can do it. I achieved my goal. Even though maybe I’d hoped to get a PhD, now I feel like I did more than that. I helped my kids to get to that level. I feel like that part has been fulfilled with my kids’ success.”

Family first. It’s a mantra that has always guided Deme. 

“I feel like SD1 is another parent of my children,” she concludes. “My kids both got their degrees while I was working here. I started here in December of 2017 and Bonny graduated from Highland High School in 2018. And she graduated from Harvard while I worked here. And Hiren is now graduating while I’m working here. So yes, I feel like SD1 is another parent for my kids.”