U student drowns

Anna Lenya spent last Thursday with her daughter, Elomo Lenya, seeing the sights of Minneapolis.

That afternoon, the two separated. Anna Lenya went home to Winona, Minn., and three hours later received a call from the police informing her that her daughter had drowned.

Elomo Lenya was a first-year pharmacy student at the University, planning to take the knowledge she gained back to her native Cameroon. She was 20.

On Thursday, she went to a New Brighton apartment complex to swim and visit a 15-year-old girl she mentored in Cameroon who recently came to Minnesota.

The girl saw Elomo Lenya struggling in the pool and called for help.

Despite efforts by apartment management and paramedics to revive her, Lenya died at the scene in what is believed to be an accidental drowning. An investigation is ongoing.

After completing high school in Cameroon, Lenya came to Minnesota in December 2005 to fulfill her dream of attending the University.

She always wanted to study medicine to help with relief efforts in Africa, said Emmanuel Lenya, her father.

"She was very ambitious," he said. "That ambition propels her to do the work to make that possible."

Although Elomo Lenya was academically minded, her family said she always made time for them.

"Elomo was like the head of the family because she could bring us all together," her mother said.

In addition to a host of family members still living in Cameroon, Elomo Lenya had a younger brother and sister.

Her brother plans to attend the University to follow in his older sister's footsteps and study medicine.

"They always loved to be together," Emmanuel Lenya said.

Accounting and marketing junior Kaitlyn DiSalvo lived two doors away from Elomo Lenya in Centennial Hall.

The two met the day after move-in and became fast friends.

"She'd always bring up my mood if I was in a bad mood," DiSalvo said. "She was very affectionate and always made people feel good."

Lenya's gift of friendship was not lost on her family. Her mother said the thing she will remember most about her daughter was the bond they shared.

"Elomo was a good friend of mine, the closest one," she said.

Emmanuel Lenya reflected on his favorite memories of his daughter and settled on her ever-present smile.

Elomo Lenya's smile will be remembered by friends and family through a picture she gave her mother on the day she died.

Anna Lenya said her daughter told her to frame it and hang it on the wall in the family's home.

Others will be invited to remember Elomo Lenya and her vibrant smile at services in both the Twin Cities and Cameroon.

"By next week, this whole house will be full because of Elomo," Emmanuel said.

An exact date for the service has not been set, as the family is raising funds to cover funeral expenses.

-Nina Petersen-Perlman contributed to this report.