The Ethiopian Student Association (ESA) is a student group at the University of Minnesota. It was formed in 1993 in response to the growing number of Ethiopian students at the University as well as the increasing numbers of Ethiopian migrating to the Twin Cities. At its inception, the founding members had the following specific goals they planned to accomplish:

In the past four years, ESA has been involved in numerous activities in line with our specified goals. Examples include book drives, sponsoring speakers, volunteering to teach the Amharic language and script to Ethiopian children, and organizing our annual Ethiopian Cultural Show.

Membership has grown over the years and now stands at 30 students. However we are seeking to expand membership to include more University of Minnesota students as well as others attending local community colleges and other Universities.

With in the next year, ESA plans to create new activities as well as expand on some of the above mentioned goals. One such activity includes expanding our roles as volunteers to include work within the large Ethiopian and East African population of the Cedar-Riverside area. Another activity will be to incorporate other forms of displaying Ethiopian Arts and culture (e.g. theater, art display) in to our popular Ethiopian Cultural Show.