Nigerian Kids Blazing the Trail in US Education

Ugo Ogonuwe was born in January 2002, to Nigerian immigrants living in the State of Indiana and as typical of the Nigerian population in the US, both parents are well educated with college degrees in different fields.  Just as typical, the Ogonuwe children need to excel too so Ugo is only toeing the line when he attains lofty heights in school.  He is only toeing the line when he makes his parents proud with excellent academic record especially when that record includes acceptance to all the top ten prep schools across the US.  

Ogonuwe is to start his high school education in either the Philips Academy, Andover; the Milton Academy; the Middlesex School; the Groton School and the Deerfield Academy; all elite prep schools in Massachusetts or the Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire all of which have offered him admission for the next academic year. 

The admission letters from these top institutions tout the schools’ reputation and why they are a good fit for Ogonuwe with some of the offers icing it with scholarship awards while others promote the diversity of its student population and achievements.

 One letter reads, among others, “ your class could include a musician from Dallas who has published her own album and plays 11 instruments; a wrestler and Boy Scout from Chicago who takes particle physics courses at Fermilab as part of his homeschool curriculum; a hula dancer from Hawaii who performed for the Pope and has tested NASA spacesuit technology in her schools fabrication lab; and, we hope, a student council president and musician from Dyer who has taught himself how to speak Spanish.” The last part about Dyer being a reference to Ogonuwe.  Each school has been impressed by the young Nigerian whose resume indicates a well-rounded personality, an avid athlete, artiste and student leader.

Ugo Ogonuwe’s story is just beginning.  From a public middle school in Dyer, Indiana where he serves as student council president he has emerged on top among thousands of students from all over the country and overseas who annually compete for placement in these elite schools.

He lists Beethoven’s Fur Elise, which he first heard on his mother’s telephone ring tone, as his inspiration to music and today can play the piano, the clarinet and other instruments and has received awards and certificates in music recitals, sports and academic achievement.

Ogonuwe is one of many Nigerian children emerging with excellent academic records in various schools, public and private, across the United States.  Just recently also, two 17-year-old Nigerian kids in New York, Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna, and Harold Ekeh, the year before, set records with admission letters from twelve or more Universities and colleges across the US including eight IVY –League institutions.  Both from Long Island’s Elmont Memorial High School have maintained excellent academic and extracurricular records and both are sought by the bests schools in the US.

 Augusta and her proud parents, Priscilla and Tobias, were featured on a Fox Channel 5 morning show recently and she said she has until May to decide which institution to attend.   Just like Ekeh in the previous year, the list of schools which have offered her admission include Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia university, Princeton University, Brown University, Cornell University, MIT, Dartmouth, and University of Pennsylvania, a rare feat even the American media have been quick to celebrate. Now both students are faced with the dilemma of choice in this fortunate turn of events.

Typically, Uwamanzu-Nna, credits her Nigerian parents with instilling the value of education in her.

Renafrique had in a previous edition reported that Nigerians in US are the most educated nationality in the country quoting US Census figures which found that about 61 percent of Nigerian immigrants in United States hold at least a bachelor’s degree or higher.

 According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey report, about 96 percent of Nigerian-born Immigrants in United States surveyed between 2008 and 2012 have a minimum of a high school education.  Of this number, 34.7 percent graduated high school or have some college education while 60.9 percent have at least a Bachelor’s degree. 

With these numbers, Nigeria outranks immigrants from other parts of the world in educational attainment.   The Census figures indicate that “compared with the overall foreign-born population, the foreign-born from Africa had higher levels of educational attainment.”  

Compared to all foreign born in United States, the Census Bureau reports that only about 27.6 percent of other foreign born including European whites have a bachelor’s degree or higher while at least 47.5 percent of all African-born immigrants hold a bachelor’s degree or more.

The bureau explains this data distribution in favor of Africa as a reflection of how these immigrants entered the United States.  The Bureau states that “a relatively high proportion of immigrants from Africa entered the United States on diversity visas (24 percent as compared with 5 percent of overall foreign-born) which require a high school diploma or equivalent work experience.”

The achievements of these younger generation Nigerians, such as Ogonuwe, Ekeh, Uwamanzu-Nna and many others off the limelight, indicates that academic achievements of Nigerians transcend the immigrant generation.  These are children born in United States and all seem driven by parents who instilled the importance of education in them.