Growing Up In The Land Of Opportunity

Growing up in a small, rural town and coming from an immigrant family was an experience that I deemed both difficult and rewarding. However, the rewarding experiences exceeded the difficult experiences because of my tenacious attitude to advance myself in the “Land of Opportunities” known as America. In my community, most of my peers were familiar with, or related to, one another and the cultural values and customs with which I grew up in my Nigerian immigrant family were discordant from what the majority of my peers experienced. Because of this discrepancy, balancing my familial identity with the social identity that my peers approved of was often a difficult task. At times, my peers would express a lack of cultural sensitivity, but I did

However, the support from my parents and mentors also contributed to my development as a scholar and productive American citizen. Since childhood, my parents inculcated why the value of an education, especially in America, was important and that I could succeed in my endeavors as long as I worked diligently for it. My mother especially emphasized the importance of education. She grew up in the midst of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war in the late 1960s, and as a child was a refugee at one point in her life, struggling to flee the chaos in her village. Together, her and my dad’s voices continually resonate in my ear as they would say, “We came to America, young, struggled, and alone, to make the foundation of life easier for you.” I took heed of their advice and used it as motivation to achieve my academic

By volunteering, I am allowed to enhance my understanding of youth development while also utilizing my leadership skills to embolden children to achieve their best academically and socially. For example, I am currently participating in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where I volunteer as a mentor for an 8 year-old girl within my local community. It is important for me to use my leadership abilities and direct my outreaching to children who need guidance. My ultimate goal is to show the younger generation how the value of an education could help them progress with their interests, especially in a society such as America that allows such individual