Emmanuel Musa

Kaduna State University

Oregon State University, PhD Chemistry

I was born in Jos as the seventh child to a family of eight. My dad was a military man, and even though I didn’t get to know him better, he was a gallant soldier who devoted his life in service of his country until his demise. My mother since then took up single parenting, serving both roles of mother and father and was so able to cater for the family from earnings she made as a petty trader. Life as a kid wasn’t easy, and as things became more difficult, we resorted to other measures. We started hawking food items, which was a necessary means to raise money for the family’s needs, and also in paying our school fees. From the age of 8, I started hawking items such as roasted fish, akara and soya bean cake (awara) among others, although this sometimes got me mocked by friends and schoolmates, it was for me a building moment, and I returned back home after every day sales with a victorious smile. It was from a tender age that I learned the sense of duty and responsibility, at the age of 10 I was already 18.

In school, I was deprived of many things; I had to rely on my roommate’s android phone to browse and report my school assignments and used his hand outs to study many times. I couldn't get my own copy.

After graduation in 2016, I was called up by the NYSC. During NYSC, I took up extra tutorial jobs alongside my primary assignment, and with the little savings I made, I was able to purchase my first fairly used laptop and android phone. It was during NYSC in 2018 that I first heard of the opportunity funds program (OFP) from a friend Obed Dodo who encouraged me to apply. I wrote the GRE and TOEFL exams in 2019, filled in many applications and in January of 2020, I got my first admission offer, a full scholarship to pursue a PhD in Chemistry from Oregon State University.

Emmanuel Ogunniyi

Federal University of Technology Akure

University of South Carolina, PhD Mechanical Engineering

My name is Emmanuel Abiodun Ogunniyi, I had my undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria and I will be proceeding for my PhD studies in Mechanical Engineering at University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA.

I grew up in a polygamous home. My mum used to work as a photographer when I was young but became hypertensive and equally very sick and was advised to stop working very early. This actually affected her side of the home as we lacked a lot of basic things as my dad only caters for the general needs.

Growing up was very challenging but I never relented. I struggled through secondary school where I barely made a good result, I was even forced to repeat my SS1 then, majorly as a result of being sent out of class for owing fees. I also couldn’t proceed immediately after my secondary to higher institution and had to stay at home for three years while doing some menial jobs, also taught in primary schools.

My undergraduate degree wasn’t with so much comfort but I was very keen on making good grades so that I can make the difference in my home and also proceed for my graduate studies. The challenges helped me grow into a stronger person and I graduated with a first class.

I knew the only way I can get through graduate studies is just through a scholarship whether it’s international or local as I needed some funding. I started applying for international scholarship opportunities before immediately I completed my undergraduate and I got lots of rejections along the way. I kept applying even while on NYSC and the whole story changed when I applied for the EducationUSA OFP. Before this time, I was already developing interest in graduate studies in the US, but I didn’t know how to go about it. Through the program, I learnt all that is required to get admission and funding. I secured two fully funded PhD programs and will be attending University of South Carolina, Columbia.

Francis Chukwunta is a 2019 EducationUSA Lagos Opportunity Funds Program (OFP) Scholar. Francis is a First-Class Chemical Engineering graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University. Francis also won several University, Faculty and National Merits Awards. Francis is passionate about continuous community improvement and energy sustainability. Francis secured a fully funded graduate program offer in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University with an assistantship worth over $50,000/session. In his words, EducationUSA has expanded my world viewpoint, helping me to realize how intentional guidance can make distant dreams present realities. I am sure you would be next!

Francis Stanely Victor

University of Jos

Georgetown University, PhD Industrial Chemistry

I am Francis Victor, a graduate of industrial chemistry from the University of Jos, Nigeria. I am a native of Imo state, born and raised in Jos, Plateau state as the second of four siblings, raised by parents who were and are still peasant traders. Growing up, I had to work for everything I got. I sold on streets sides the entirety of my high school days, enduring the laborious task of having to read and prepare for tests and exams and having to sell on streets sides by junctions. Yet, I consistently came out the best graduating student most of my years.

My parents’ income wasn’t enough to give me the allowance of choosing a university of my choice outside Plateau state, so I settled for the University of Jos, Nigeria a familiar terrain, opting for industrial chemistry and foregoing my engineering aspirations because the university then didn’t have an engineering faculty in existence. I spent a year after graduating from high school working to raise funds to be able to register for the JAMB entrance examination and was admitted on my first trial. I taught part-time and took day jobs at construction sites to be able to pay my fees throughout my undergraduate studies. With all this, I still managed a first-class honor as at graduation as a first- generation graduate and first to graduate with a university degree in the entirety of my family, nuclear and extended.

I took the GRE and TOEFL exams coming out with respective scores of 306 and 103. I applied to sixteen schools, got admitted to eight with six, fully funded. I will be going to Georgetown University, Washington DC, with a yearly tuition waiver and graduate assistantship scholarship position summing up to seventy-one thousand US dollars ($71,000).

Godwin Adinya

Kazan Federal University

University of Maine, MSc Chemical Engineering

Growing up in a very remote region where the average family lives below 500 Naira per day, it is not uncommon to find youths whose lives have been battered and shattered and who exist without dreams. With the greatest challenge being financial difficulty, one will dare not strive to break out of the status quo. But I knew better. I knew it was fate to be born poor but it is my fault to stay poor. Against all odds, I was full of dreams and expectations even though nothing seemed possible at first glance. My parents could barely afford a semester fee of 3,000 Naira for my secondary school and no one older than I ever dared to go beyond secondary school to the university, yet I envisaged a spectacular advanced education beyond the four walls of Nigeria. I had no idea how this was going to be possible but I was full of faith and persistence. T

I completed my secondary school education at government secondary school, jiwa – Abuja and proceeded afterwards to begin my bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the Federal University of Technology Minna –Niger state in October 2011. While at FUT Minna, I won several awards including MTN Foundation Scholarship, Agbami Medical and Engineering Scholarship, Addax Petroleum Undergraduate Scholarship and Shell Petroleum Undergraduate Scholarship and finally had to leave FUTMinna to Russia through the Federal Government Overseas Scholarship after just one year at the university. Truly nothing is a barrier to a determined mind. I watched the fulfillment of my dreams unfold as I pierced through the resistance.

My bachelor's education in Russia came with some real challenges that have altogether made me a better person. I remember sitting in my room alone and pondering the possibilities of learning an entirely new language and having to study a four-year degree with it. I knew that it would not be easy, but I also knew that for a man who has understood the powers of faith, persistence and hard work, it is much harder to fail than to succeed. So, I sat up and shouldered the responsibility

Today I have a bachelor's degree from Russia and with the help of EducationUSA I am currently pursuing a master’s degree on full scholarship at the University of Maine, USA.

Goodnews Amieghemen

University of Benin

University of Alabama, PhD Civil Engineering

I am the third child and only son to Mr and Mrs Amieghemen, a retired Civil Servant and Teacher respectively in Edo State, Nigeria. My parents always believed that education was a transformational key to making a better and productive life and despite the economic challenges placed before them, they did their best to give me quality education. Seeing their sacrifice, spurred in me the desire to be hardworking and excellent in my academic endeavors. This ingrained attribute earned me several awards, one of which is the Best Graduating Student of the University of Benin 2017/2018 Session.

With the desire to become an International voice in Civil Engineering, I always wondered how I could acquire a globally competitive post graduate education in a culturally diverse environment and thanks to EducationUSA, my wonder and dream has become a reality. I’ll be heading to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for a PhD in Civil Engineering and with my degree I’ll be able to contribute my quota towards moving Civil Engineering to the point it’ll be in the next generation.

Immaculata Daikpor

International School, University of Lagos

Bachelors degree, Swarthmore College

Immaculata graduated as the Head Girl of International School, University of Lagos with 8As and 1B, one of the best results in her school. While in high school, she served as President of the Literary and Debating Club, received several academic honors and won multiple literary competitions, including the National Travel Essay Contest which led to her one-year appointment as Ambassador of the Nigerian Aviation Industry.

Immaculata volunteers at different non-profits and hopes to use the resources she finds in college to create transformative empowerment opportunities for underserved Nigerian communities. She also volunteered as an intern at EducationUSA Lagos’ Advising Center and served as facilitator of the center’s book club. Immaculata Daikpor is an OFP scholar who was admitted in the Early Decision 1 round to Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. She is studying political science.

Isioma Jessica Nwayor graduated with a First-class as the best graduating student of the Department of Geography and Faculty of Social Sciences at Obafemi Awolowo University. She was a co-founder and the first president of the Geographic Information System (GIS) club in OAU and an NNPC Total scholar. Isioma is a published author in two International journals. In 2019, she was selected as an Opportunity Funds Scholar, she received three funded offers worth over $100,000 from three universities but decided to go for Indiana University Bloomington where she got a fully-funded offer worth over $65,000 per year for her MSc-PhD at the Department of Geography. Her area of research focuses on Climate Change and Climate Variability. In her words “I got a fully-funded admission even without applying for a core stem program, I couldn’t have done this without the help of the amazing EducationUSA Advisors, they provided me with the needed support and guidance. You can achieve the same and more if you play your part and work closely with your advisors”.

Izunna Okpala is a graduate of Information Technology from the Federal University of Technology Owerri. He graduated as the best MSc student in the school with a distinction. Also, he was the second-best graduating student in his department for the bachelor's degree. With 9 international papers and 2 local publications to his name, Izunna is also an approved reviewer in Springer Open, having reviewed several publications in the Journal of Big Data. In 2019, Izunna became an Opportunity Funds Scholar and received a funded offer from the U.S. He accepted a fully-funded scholarship to the University of Cincinnati worth over $40,000 per year for his Ph.D. in Information Technology with emphasis on Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing. Always trying to improve himself, he enrolled in the University of Oxford summer school in Machine Learning with a three-week scholarship. Izunna says "The professionalism and passion for students to which the advisers in EducationUSA operate is out of this world, and none of the above-mentioned accomplishments would have been possible without the proper guidance and assistance offered by the EducationUSA Opportunity Funds Program (OFP)”

Kehinde Ogunmola

Obafemi Awolowo University

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, PhD Chemistry

I remembered the day like yesterday when I lost my caring and ever promising Father… hmm, he loved me so much. Despite my dad leaving behind a family of seven, I finished secondary school examinations with the best result in my school and I got admission directly to university simultaneously to study Chemistry at Obafemi Awolowo University.

During my undergraduate I took it upon myself to combine my academics with side jobs so as to take care of my expenses. There is a common saying that a strike in university is a curse, in my case it was a blessing in disguise as I set out to increase my side jobs so as to pay my school fees. In the middle of all this, I was still an excellent student as I made sure that my academics didn’t suffer.

It was a faithful Saturday afternoon at my undergraduate departmental library some months after my degree program, that I had this great encounter with a former EducationUSA opportunity funds scholar. Though we were told it’s on merit, I never really believed that it wasn’t a scam until I became part of the program. It isn’t just about assistance and advise, it is indeed a family. The bonding in this family I have honestly never experienced before. Now I am joining the graduate school in the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa for my PhD program in Chemistry fully funded.

Kelechi Agwu

Kazan Federal University

University of Alabama, PhD Chemical Engineering

Growing up, success in the academic line had always come easily to me. My academic talents have also taken me places beyond my wildest dreams. In 2006, while I was in JSS 2 in my village school, I emerged the best student in my community in a scholarship exam and got a chance to attend a 3-week International Youth Leadership Program in the US, courtesy of the wife of then governor of my state. The scholarship also covered full tuition to study in the best secondary school in the state, Hope High British International School. 

 However, after my SSCE exams in 2010, I found myself in a very difficult place. I didn’t even have enough money to register for JAMB, no to talk of paying tuition. Someone from my community who made sure that my dreams of going to the university were not cut short. She also helped me get a scholarship from my LGA, though I didn’t have to spend a year at FUTO before I got the BEA scholarship to study in Russia and everything seemed good.

After my undergraduate program in 2017, I had a series of experiences that almost made me feel I no longer deserved my dreams. With my first class degree (CGPA 4.96/5)  from Kazan National Research Technological University and the best project award win (from my department), I felt I was in a great position to get into a good graduate programs. I was not really prepared for the wave of rejections that followed. Almost all the graduate programs I applied to rejected me. It was one devastating blow after another on my self-esteem.

But one great decision I made was not to take defeats and rejections personally. I have a folder in my inbox where I stored all the rejection emails (love letters as I now fondly call them) and I was always ready to try again. In 2018, I applied to OFP but didn’t even make it to the interview stage. I wasn’t done yet. I dusted up my CV, polished my essays and reapplied in 2019. This time around, I made it to the interview stage and was accepted into the program. I applied to 6 schools in the US, I got rejected by 2 of them, got into 3 (2 on full scholarship) and I will be going to The University of Alabama on $50,000+ per year full PhD scholarship in Chemical Engineering.

Fresh out of the University of Ibadan as a First-Generation student with no connections, I doubt anyone would fault me for being scared and worried even though I finished as the best student in my class with a CGPA of 6.9 out of 7.0. During my last days in the University, a very good friend informed me about the Opportunity Funds Program (OFP) and I had gone through the program page to see what it is about. I realized that it would be the lucky strike for me given that even if I managed somehow to secure a full ride for my PhD at Purdue (which is my dream school), neither I nor my family can afford the initial visa and travelling costs. The OFP portal was opened for a month and that was exactly how long it took me to prepare my application after which I submitted two hours to the deadline. I got called for an interview, was in Kano for NYSC, had to come down to Ibadan to get materials, then to Lagos (with no one to stay with), interviewed and then back to Kano to complete the NYSC. Then, of course, the extreme joy I felt when I got the congratulatory mail is understandable even though it came with a lot of conditions. Now, all I had to do was commit and push myself hard: writing tests, getting my resume ready, writing a statement of purpose, checking for schools, mailing professors etc. To say it was overwhelming would be quite an overstatement but then I pulled through because of the unique support system the OFP family provided me. I had people with similar dreams who also understood my socio-economic troubles. The EducationUSA advisors, my colleagues, and the monthly sessions all created beautiful memories for me and kept reassuring me that my dreams are valid! On the last day of 2019, I had the first invite for an interview from the University of California at Davis. It was so surreal! Then others came, including my beloved Purdue! I got in! Six months later I still randomly muse over the question: How was I able to secure an offer at Purdue (with four other full rides) fresh out of the University? Truly, I might never be able to definitively answer that question, but this I certainly know; that without the Opportunity Funds Program and the support of the EducationUSA family, I would not have pushed so hard for my dreams!

Michael Alowakennu

Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta

Michigan State University, PhD Chemistry

Michael is the first in the family to graduate from university. He lost his dad at an early age and his mother, a trader, did her best to support the family. Michael worked several jobs as a waiter and home tutor to pay his way through school. 

Michael was able to not only be the first in his family to go beyond secondary school but he finished with a First Class in Chemistry. With determination fueled by his environment and late father, he graduated as one of the best students in the College of Physical Science at FUAAB. He received several offers towards his graduate program including an excessively funded Doctoral program from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

Moses Adejumo

Obafemi Awolowo University

Clarkson University, PhD Chemical Engineering

I am a graduate of the Chemical Engineering Department, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). I graduated with a First Class among the top decile of my class. I am the firstborn of my family. My dad is a civil servant with a moderate and "not too bad" income. My mother, who has been battling with a serious health challenge for more than 12 years, seldomly manages our family small business. My dad did his best to sponsor my younger brother and me to the tertiary institutions. 

In 2018/19, with the support of the EducationUSA advisors, I wrote the standardized exams (GRE and TOEFL) and I applied for Ph.D. programs in Chemical Engineering. I applied to five schoolsandsnd secured Ph.D. admissions without funding even after I had an interview with two professors at some of the schools. It was so disheartening that I wouldn't be going with my 2018/19 OFP cohorts. The only hope left for me was to apply for the next term – Fall 2020.

Before I shot for the Fall 2020 applications, I worked hard to strengthen my profile. I was able to publish my undergraduate final year project. Besides, I joined the Department of Chemistry as a volunteer research intern under the tutelage of Dr. Fadare. During the internship, I learned how to do molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation for drug design purposes. I added this internship experience to my Resume and my Statement of Purpose. Also, I wrote my TOEFL the second time to have a better score. I was able to get better letters of recommendation. At this time, I doubled the number of schools I applied to. I applied to ten schools and I applied to some programs other than Chemical Engineering (which are Chemistry and System Engineering programs).

I applied to 10 schools for the Fall 2020 term. Ultimately, two universities gave me admission with funding, and one school gave me admission without funding. After thorough consideration, I decided to go with Clarkson University at Potsdam in New York for my Ph.D. program in Chemical Engineering. Clarkson University gave me Chemical Engineering Ph.D. admission with a funding worth of $68,420. Though the battle was tough, I am happy I finally made it with the help of God and EducationUSA advisors

Obaseki Eseiwi

University of Benin

Wayne State University, PhD Plant Biology

I was born as the first child of a large polygamous family of 11 children. My dad is a level six civil servant in Nigeria, who started out well in his entrepreneurial endeavor but as life would have it, lost everything in a single transaction. My mum is unemployed but involved in petty trade to support herself and children. Due to the unfortunate incident that happened to my dad, some of my siblings had to go stay with family relatives so they could continue their education. My university education experience was not a good one as I went to school from home through my study years because my parents could not afford hostel accommodation and monthly allowance. Looking back, it was not so terrible because it meant that money I got from tutorials and private lessons, I took back home to support my mum and siblings. Despite these challenges, I graduated as the overall best graduating student of the university during my academic session with a CGPA of 4.96 out of 5.00 from the department of Plant biology and Biotechnology, and with the assistance of EducationUSA, I secured two fully funded PhD positions in the USA. I look forward to completing my doctorate program successfully at Wayne State University, it will be nice to have a doctor title to my name.