A 22-year-old Nigerian has emerged one of the top
graduating students of John Hopkins University in
the United States. He obtained a Grade Point
Average of 3.98 out of a possible 4.0 to earn a
degree in Neurosciences, SEGUN OLUGBILE writes.
A 22-year-old Nigerian, Emmanuel Ohuabunwa, has
made history at John Hopkins University, United
States of America. Ohuabunwa from Arochukwu,
Abia State, has done the nation proud by becoming
the first black man to make a Grade Point Average
of 3.98 out of 4.0 to bag a degree in Neurosciences
in the university. He was also adjudged as having the
highest honours during the graduation that was held
on May 24 this year.
For his efforts, he has won a scholarship to Yale
University to pursue a degree in medicine. Besides,
he has been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Society, a
prestigious honour group that features membership
of 17 US Presidents, 37 US Supreme Court Justices,
and 136 Nobel Prize winners.
According to Wikipedia, The Phi Beta Kappa Society
is an academic honour society. Its mission is to
“celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts
and sciences” and induct “the most outstanding
students of arts and sciences at America’s leading
colleges and universities.”
It was founded at The College of William and Mary
on December 5, 1776, and thus it is the oldest
honour society for the liberal arts and sciences and
among the oldest undergraduate societies in the US.
In an online interview with our correspondent,
Ohuabunwa, who was born in Okota, Lagos and
attended Lilly Fields Primary School, Lagos, said he
left Nigeria after his junior secondary school
education at Air Force Comprehensive School,
Ibadan, Oyo State.
“My parents moved the whole family when I was 13
years old. I was about to begin SS1 at Air Force,
Ibadan. When I got to the US, I was enrolled with my
age mates, which meant at 13, I was in middle
school. I went to Fondren Middle School, which was
in the middle of the ghetto. That was one of the
darkest years for me because I encountered a lot of
peer pressure. Some of the students, ignorant about
Africa, bullied me and called me names such as
‘African booty scratcher’ because to them, Africans
were dirty and scratched their butts all the time.
“Some asked me if I lived in mud huts and ate faeces
for breakfast. I remember one day, when I was
walking to the school bus, a boy came from behind
and punched me in the face, called me an African and
walked away. It took everything in me not to
retaliate. I knew that God had put me in the U.S for
a purpose and it did not involve fighting or selling
drugs or doing the wrong things.
“My experience during that year gave me a thick
skin. I learned to stand for what I thought was right
even when the opposition seemed insurmountable. I
also learned to look at the positive in all situations.
Even though these kids were bullying me, I was still
gaining an opportunity to school in America and
nothing would stop me from making the best of this
opportunity.
“The shocker was that the kid that punched me in
the face was black. I would have expected the blacks
to be nicer to me. Nevertheless, I don’t blame those
kids because they were ignorant about Africa. All
they knew about us was the stuff they had watched
on TV or documentaries, showing primitive African
tribes, living in the jungle and making noises like
monkeys.
“In regards to the whites, there might have been
some minor episodes but again I don’t blame them
for it because it is a problem with stereotypes,” he
said.
But in spite of this humiliation and racial prejudice
against him, the first in a family of three was not
discouraged. He faced his studies and was always
coming top in his class. After he completed his
middle school education, he passed the entrance
examination to DeBakey High School for Health
Professions. It was at this school that his interest
in neurosciences and medicine started.
“By the second year of high school, we were able to
interact with doctors, nurses and other
administrators in the hospital. The more I learned
about medicine, the more it felt like the thing God
was calling me to pursue and by being in the US I
got a lot of people to support me to do this. Even
though in high school, I got to see first-hand what
it meant to be a doctor. We studied advanced
anatomy and physiology, learned medical
terminology, and learned important skills, such as
checking blood pressure, pulse rate, and many more.
“I knew I wanted to go to the best school in the US.
I had heard that Johns Hopkins Hospital had been
ranked the number one hospital in the US for the
past 21 years and I wanted to be in that
environment.’’
Worried that his parents might not be able to
sponsor him to the university, Ohuabunwa purposed
to work very hard. He did and when the result of
the PSAT came, he performed so well that he won
the National Achievement Scholar.
By virtue of this award, he received certificates of
recognition from various organisations including
senators from the Congress of both Texas and the
US. He also received scholarship from the University
of Houston; Rice University, Texas A&M Honors
College and many more.
He had also won the Principal’s Award during the
annual awards ceremony at DeBakey High School.
“During our graduation ceremony at DeBakey, I also
won the Award for the Most Outstanding Senior
Young Man and the student volunteer award for my
volunteer activities in the State of Texas,” he said.
But his breakthrough came when he won the Bill and
Belinda Gates Foundation full scholarship to any
university of his choice. He worked hard and gained
admission to Johns Hopkins University to study
Neurosciences.
But why Neurosciences, Ohuabunwa said, “I studied
Neuroscience, because I was fascinated with the
brain, its control of our behaviours and how various
diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, lead to a
decline in its activity. I also minored in Psychology
because I wanted to understand disorders in the
psyche. What causes bipolar disorders or
schizophrenia. I did not just want to label them as
crazy but to understand what causes these
conditions and how we can treat them,’’ he
explained.
But what does he consider to be the missing links in
the education sector of Nigeria when compared with
that on offer in US, Ohuabunwa said unpredictable
academic calendar, corruption, examination
malpractice and inadequate funding were some of the
problems confronting his home country’s university
sector. These, he said, were absent in the US.
“There were a few problems with Nigerian higher
education that contributed to our emigration in
2003. The first was the number of strikes that
occurred in schools. It took my uncle seven years to
graduate with a degree that should have taken him
only four years. A second problem was the
corruption. We had heard of people going into
universities, because they paid someone to look the
other way. I also heard of a few cheating scandals,
where people would pay someone to take their exams
for them or get a copy of the exam a few days
before,” he said.
But is he saying that US university system has no
such problems at all? Ohuabunwa said, “Although
this sometimes occurs in the U.S, it is less common
because of the strict security. I remember when
taking the Medical College Admissions Test, test
required before one can matriculate into medical
school, each student had to get his fingerprints
taken every time we entered and left the hall. The
whole place was packed with cameras and security
staff that monitored everything we were doing. The
exam was computerised to make sure that no one
saw the test before the actual date.”
Another difference, he said, is that America rewards
hard-work while the system also emphasises on a
balance between academic life and extracurricular
activities.
On how he won the scholarship to Yale, Ohuabunwa
said his 3.98 GPA in Neurosciences, and many
awards he had won and God’s grace, contributed to
his winning the scholarship.
“As at the time of my application for medical school,
I had a 3.98 GPA of a 4.0. This made me the only
black student inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta
Kappa. I was also awarded the Becker Family
Scholarship for being the most outstanding student
in the Neuroscience major at Johns Hopkins
University. Furthermore, by God’s grace, I took the
MCAT and scored in the top five percentile.
“That, combined with my hours of volunteer service
in different hospitals across the US allowed me to
gain acceptance into every medical school I applied
to, including Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins,
Columbia, and Cornell. As the time came to make a
decision, I had narrowed it down to Harvard and
Yale. Both schools, I enjoyed visiting. Nevertheless,
while my parents prayed, they asked God to give us
a sign of what school to attend. A few days later, I
received a letter from Yale Medical School, offering
me a full ride scholarship for all four years. That
was the sign from God,” he said.
But would he come back to Nigeria after the
completion of his programme, he said yes.
“I am absolutely interested in the health care policy
decisions in Nigeria. Because there are many
changes that need to occur, I will not rule out the
possibility of coming back after my studies, in order
to join hands with the leaders to make these
changes possible.’’
He added that his ambition is to become a medical
doctor specialising in brain surgery.
“Two weeks ago, my grandmother passed away after
a long battle with strokes. Even during emergencies,
it was difficult for her to get to the hospital, let
alone get treatment. This is a common theme not only
in the health care system of Nigeria, but in different
countries in the world, where the poor get
neglected.
“Second, Nigerian hospitals lack the infrastructure
required to compete with major hospitals around the
world. It would be an honour to one day contribute
to this transformation that is necessary for
improvements in Nigeria’s health care sector,” he
said.
He, however, advised Nigerian youths who have the
wherewithal, to go abroad to study. Ohuabunwa also
called on wealthy Nigerians to invest more in the
education of the poor rather than in acquisition of
material things.
Ohuabunwa, however, said that his parents, who he
described as his greatest role models, contributed a
lot to his academic feat through Godly training,
counsel and guidance. He also did not forget the
impact that his short stay at Air Force school had
on him.
“I was definitely not the brightest at Air Force. At
that time, I felt like I spent more time running away
from seniors than focusing on my studies.
Nevertheless, I learned three things at Air Force
that have served me well in the US. I learned
discipline, adaptability and resilience. These
attributes helped me a lot in US,” he said.
http://www.punchng.com
Monday, 20 October 2014
Nigerian Breaks Academic Record At John Hopkins University
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