As Ellen Johnson Sirleaf begins her first days as President of Liberia, she probably won't have time to reflect on how far she's come since her days as a busgirl in Madison.

Sirleaf is the first female leader of an African nation. But before making history, she got an accounting degree from the now defunct Madison College of Business back in 1964.

When she was first elected last year, former UW Dean of L&S Phil Certain looked her up to see if she attended the University of Wisconsin. "Her name was not in the records but her husband's name was in the records. He was a master's degree student at the University at the time."

Certain says he was curious about Sirleaf's time in Madison, so he got Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold to ask her when she visited Washington D.C. Sirleaf told Feingold that she spent 2 years busing tables at the local drugstore's lunch counter. "She said it was Rennebohm's where she worked."

Rennebohm's Pharmacy used to dominate the downtown scene, and Steve Skolaski-Director of the Rennebohm Foundation-says they figure Sirleaf worked at the store at University and Park or State and Lake.

Certain says it was common for foreign students to work there. "There was a large Rennebohm's where the business school at the University is right now. They had lunch counters back then so students would work there–particularly international students would work there–busing tables, sweeping floors and apparently this is the kind of job she had."

Certain says it's the kind of story that can inspire anyone. "We'd like to think this is the story of America. Anybody can start off as a busboy at Rennebohm's and become President of the country."