RAPID CITY - The American Dream is the theme for the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce banquet and annual meeting on Saturday, Sept. 24, and guest speaker Albert Mensah is living the American Dream.

Mensah was born in one of the world's most impoverished nations, Ghana, West Africa ? in a village of 200 ? with no electricity or water.

At age 8, he moved with his family to a larger city. It was there that he saw his first movie and got his first glimpse of life in America. From that moment on, he became obsessed with the United States. "States" ? as his friends came to call him ? attended the American Jesuit high school in Ghana and cultivated more than 400 American pen pals.

After writing to 350 American colleges, he found one ? Western Maryland College ? willing to give him a scholarship. He attended, graduated, married his college sweetheart and went on to success in sales, marketing and business.

The banquet is at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The social hour begins at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. and the program at 8 p.m. To reserve a table, call the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce at 718-8480.