My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

I am interested in the software engineering aspect of technology as well as the cybersecurity aspect of software development. The ability to create a product from scratch that contains all of the specific and exact features that the creator decides has always been fascinating to me, and the endless possibilities that allow you to go wherever your mind takes you give me the excitement I need to tackle each day. Growing up, I have always thought like a computer in a sense. When my mom used to give me instructions on where to find or how to do something, I would always come back confused if there was even the slightest detail missing. But coding is just like me in that way. Programming allows me to fully exercise that part of me that is extremely detail-oriented, and will surely tell me if I am missing any instructions because the program will not run otherwise. I am also able to express my creativity through code as well, whether it be finding creative solutions to Leetcode problems or designing new websites using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I am able to take an idea and bring it to life in an interactive form that can be used by hundreds of people. And on the other hand of cybersecurity, I really enjoy learning about network security and how I can protect information. Although it may be the inner child in me, it feels like a superhero fight between good and evil, and the excitement comes from the race to try and continue to learn more about and fortify the defenses of an application whilst black-hat hackers continue to try and penetrate it. Nevertheless, with these skills and my passions for not only technology but also Music and Neuroscience, I would like to develop something that is able to create a better atmosphere of care for underrepresented patients in hospitals who are suffering from dementia. My grandmother is Nigerian and unfortunately has the condition, and I have seen the difficulties she has undergone in order to get proper treatment. So, I would love to create an application of some sort that could combine the healing properties of music on the brain and body with machine learning to create a catered experience for patients. There is too much suffering in the world, and if we cannot yet find a cure for Dementia, we can at least make the process easier for those like my grandmother. Hopefully, with a lot of research and dedication, the power of coding and technology can once again turn my dreams into reality.

I strongly believe that leadership is not only instance-based but something that should be exemplified and embodied throughout daily life. I am the oldest of 3 children and from a young age, the principle of leadership has been harped into me, through the notion of setting a good example for my siblings under me. In my household, I try to support my siblings in their pursuits of further education, whether that is in helping my sister create her college essays, helping my brother prioritize tasks and succeed in his classes during his first time moving far away from home as a Freshman in college, or in general ensuring they take advantage of scholarship and program opportunities I might’ve missed out on in order to best prepare them for their future. But outside of home, I try to put myself in positions that allow me to lead or help younger or less experienced students. For example, one of my biggest goals in joining the Color Coded Eboard last year was to be able to pay it forward by hosting events that would build a community of learning and professional development for Black students in Computer Science. In its first year of creation, I was able to lead events that allowed me to speak about my experience as someone who transferred into Computer Science extremely late, and how I maximized my time without an internship to prepare myself for the recruiting seasons that followed. This process not only helped me develop my leadership skills but also fostered new connections with other Computer Science students which I was able to mock interview and prep for internship recruiting. Finally, outside of the classroom, I believe that my roles within the Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. also allow me to be a leader outside of the classroom. Through our work to provide events that unite the community, I can spearhead committees for specific events and oversee the processes that make them successful, such as our Salute to African American Women event, Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King event, or Alpha Esquires events (a program within Alpha in which we mentor younger kids in the surrounding Ann Arbor area). Within these roles, I believe that the work I do can inspire others in the community and raise awareness of important subjects. During my time in these organizations, I have hosted events like the Diag Charity Stroll Off and UM vs Ohio State Basketball Game Step Performance through Alpha, Study Jamz through NSBE, and a plethora of other events aimed to unite the community as a whole. I hope that little by little, I can inspire people just like me to be bolder about aspirations to improve the community, and take those strides to start movements that unify those around them and slowly but surely make the world a better place.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

My family comes from Delta and Edo State, Nigeria. My mother came to America on a track scholarship at the age of sixteen, and my father came later at the age of thirty-two. Nigeria, even Africa in general is not an easy place to come out of. With the poverty rate being at a staggering forty percent, severely underfunded health care, and high crime rates, daily life is a struggle and reflects the hardships of a developing third-world country. However, my parents were those that defied the odds. My mother was able to go through post-secondary education and work all the way up to getting a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Indiana. My father was able to earn a master's degree and a master's of business administration. They are now an assistant principal and a police officer. Seeing my parents pave a way for themselves to be successful and even set the foundations for our success is beyond inspirational. Their stories and parenting have instilled hard work, perseverance, and so much more in my character. They are such influential people in my life because they make the difficult parts of their journey look minuscule in comparison to all of the things they've achieved in this country. My parents and immigrants, in general, are modern-day superheroes. They are able to overcome so much adversity in their respective countries all for a better life for themselves and their families. It should be awe-inspiring to anybody who knows of their story. Although my intended career path and my parents do not necessarily align with each other, they still are and will continue to be pivotal parts of it. Their lives are a testament to the fact the saying, "You can do anything if you put your mind to it". In music and medicine, the majors I'm studying in school right now, the chances of becoming successful are very slim, and the process to even become these professions is grueling, slow, and full of many emotional, mental, and physical ups and downs. Nevertheless, having a first-hand experience of their personalities and being shaped by their values give me the strength and courage to accomplish my dreams. The world is my oyster, and I can enter any situation with confidence because I saw my parents do it years before. They have sacrificed and done so much for me, and I can only repay them by accomplishing everything I set my mind to.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to research is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find a treatment that befits her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time to researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

When I first became an oboist, I was young and simply really liked music. I didn't care about the technicality of playing, the career and performance aspect, or my future with the oboe, and I enjoyed the blissful ignorance of merely enjoying the music I was making. However, as I've grown with my playing over the years, so has my sense of purpose and passion. I play the oboe to liberate myself and want it to be an integral part of how I make a positive impact on society today. Being an artist to me means having the ability to express yourself. Emotions that can't be put into words are given power through notes in which you have the utmost control over how they should be displayed and perceived. Not only does being an artist mean having your own voice, but also it gives you an opportunity to be the voice for others as well. We have the power to use our mediums to make powerful products that advocate for equality and justice, even when our physical voices may not always be given priority. As a child, I wasn't the most vocal about the things I cared about or wanted to change. But this facet of artistry is something that really drives me to continue pursuing this passion and exploring the depths of what I can experience with it. Whether it be as big as using my music to influence change in the societal treatment of people of color, or as small as using performance to simply brighten someone's day, the ability to change someone or something for the better motivates me to keep going and work harder on perfecting my craft. At the end of the day, I want to be able to confidently say that with my music, I made a change in this world for the better. I would like to be able to increase minority participation in classical orchestras, and bless someone's life just as the programs beforehand had done for me. I feel as though with the path that I am on, one day I will be able to say that I made an impact, but I still have a long way to go. Music is powerful and is a big part of almost everything we hear on a daily basis. I want to show people that they too can have power with music. But most importantly, I want to use my music to make the world a more equal and diverse place so that every child in future generations can freely participate in the things they love and enjoy without barriers.

I used to find myself in an ever-changing paradox: expectations vs. reality, constantly balancing on the tightrope of everyone else’s intentions of my future while trying not to abandon my own. Although two different scenarios, my existence was exemplified by one quote “To be or not to be,” rather not life or death but balancing between the choice of being who I wanted to become and the person I was constantly pressured to be. Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a strong fear of failure. My parents, coming from poverty in Nigeria and becoming successful in America naturally set high expectations for me. And so I sought to reach the peak of everything I did, taking on three sports, orchestral studies, and the highest classes offered at my high school. However, these were not easy tasks, as I rarely had free time, never had very many friends, and was constantly stressed out about upcoming dates that were approaching. Soon enough, like an elastic rubber band stretched too thin, I snapped. It happened during one of my private lessons with my oboe instructor. As I was playing a relatively easy passage in the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, I kept messing up, and then the frustration turned into vast pent-up emotions and I started to cry. Concerned, she proceeded to ask me what was wrong, in which I informed her of my situation. Being able to tell someone was already relieving in itself but she then told me a quote that changed my perspective. She said that Ben Carson once stated, “No matter how good you are at planning, the pressure never goes away. So I don’t fight it. I feed off it. It turns pressure into motivation to do my best.” These words stuck, and I realized that the constant anxiety plaguing my mind should be embraced and not feared. I am a gradient of my experiences, and what I’ve gone through has, like a red-hot melting pot refined my steel personality into shining silver. I am going to be whatever I choose to be, and no one can tell me otherwise.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance in the School of Music Theatre and Dance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life. Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in music. My mother used to show me pictures of myself as a baby, absolutely ecstatic whilst playing Fisher-Price piano and drum toys. My love for biology and medicine came later on in my upbringing. During high school, I was already taking AP classes, but the IB Biology classes really sparked my love for science. And after seeing Dementia eat away at my grandmother's mental health, I knew Neurology was something I wanted to devote my life to trying to learn more about. However, it wasn't until high school that I also started to realize the significance of what my band director said to me. It wasn't until high school that I started to realize the economic disparity between different races and groups of people. I auditioned for a program called the Talent Development Program of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, whose purpose was to increase opportunity amongst African Americans and Latinos in the orchestral community. For the first time, I started going to camps across the country to advance my artistic ability that I couldn't afford. I had to ask for help from the program all the time because these places were simply out of my family's financial ability. I started to realize all of the opportunities that I would've missed out on without this program not because of my musical ability, but because of financial obligations. But worst of all, I realized how many people who weren't in these programs but wanted to do the same things I was doing couldn't because of the same reason. Not only this, but as I started to study biology more and continue research in that area, I also began to see how difficult it was to get equal medical treatment as an African American. How Black people had significantly less access to healthcare than White people do. How medical textbooks don't even talk about diagnosing diseases with people that have darker skin tones. Even recently, how people in predominantly Black areas were given less access to COVID testing than those in predominantly white areas. In life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to this blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

When I first became an oboist, I was young and simply really liked music. I didn't care about the technicality of playing, the career and performance aspect, or my future with the oboe, and I enjoyed the blissful ignorance of merely enjoying the music I was making. However, as I've grown with my playing over the years, so has my sense of purpose and passion. I play the oboe to liberate myself and want it to be an integral part of how I make a positive impact on society today. Being an artist to me means having the ability to express yourself. Emotions that can't be put into words are given power through notes in which you have the utmost control over how they should be displayed and perceived. Not only does being an artist mean having your own voice, but also it gives you an opportunity to be the voice for others as well. We have the power to use our mediums to make powerful products that advocate for equality and justice, even when our physical voices may not always be given priority. As a child, I wasn't the most vocal about the things I cared about or wanted to change. But this facet of artistry is something that really drives me to continue pursuing this passion and exploring the depths of what I can experience with it. Whether it be as big as using my music to influence change in the societal treatment of people of color, or as small as using performance to simply brighten someone's day, the ability to change someone or something for the better motivates me to keep going and work harder on perfecting my craft. At the end of the day, I want to be able to confidently say that with my music, I made a change in this world for the better. I would like to be able to increase minority participation in classical orchestras, and bless someone's life just as the programs beforehand had done for me. I feel as though with the path that I am on, one day I will be able to say that I made an impact, but I still have a long way to go. Music is powerful and is a big part of almost everything we hear on a daily basis. I want to show people that they too can have power with music. But most importantly, I want to use my music to make the world a more equal and diverse place so that every child in future generations can freely participate in the things they love and enjoy without barriers.

My family comes from Delta and Edo State, Nigeria. My mother came to America on a track scholarship at the age of sixteen, and my father came later at the age of thirty-two. Nigeria, even Africa in general is not an easy place to come out of. With the poverty rate being at a staggering forty percent, severely underfunded health care, and high crime rates, daily life is a struggle and reflects the hardships of a developing third-world country. However, my parents were those that defied the odds. My mother was able to go through post-secondary education and work all the way up to getting a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Indiana. My father was able to earn a master's degree and a master's of business administration. They are now an assistant principal and a police officer. Seeing my parents pave a way for themselves to be successful and even set the foundations for our success is beyond inspirational. Their stories and parenting have instilled hard work, perseverance, and so much more in my character. They are such influential people in my life because they make the difficult parts of their journey look minuscule in comparison to all of the things they've achieved in this country. My parents and immigrants, in general, are modern-day superheroes. They are able to overcome so much adversity in their respective countries all for a better life for themselves and their families. It should be awe-inspiring to anybody who knows of their story. Although my intended career path and my parents do not necessarily align with each other, they still are and will continue to be pivotal parts of it. Their lives are a testament to the fact the saying, "You can do anything if you put your mind to it". In music and medicine, the majors I'm studying in school right now, the chances of becoming successful are very slim, and the process of even becoming these professions is grueling, slow, and full of many emotional, mental, and physical ups and downs. Nevertheless, having a first-hand experience of their personalities and being shaped by their values give me the strength and courage to accomplish my dreams. The world is my oyster, and I can enter any situation with confidence because I saw my parents do it years before. They have sacrificed and done so much for me, and I can only repay them by accomplishing everything I set my mind to.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

I am interested in the software engineering aspect of technology as well as the cybersecurity aspect of software development. The ability to create a product from scratch that contains all of the specific and exact features that the creator decides has always been fascinating to me, and the endless possibilities that allow you to go wherever your mind takes you give me the excitement I need to tackle each day. Growing up, I have always thought like a computer in a sense. When my mom used to give me instructions on where to find or how to do something, I would always come back confused if there was even the slightest detail missing. But coding is just like me in that way. Programming allows me to fully exercise that part of me that is extremely detail oriented, and will surely tell me if I am missing any instructions because the program will not run otherwise. I am also able to express my creativity through code as well, whether it be finding creative solutions to Leetcode problems or designing new websites using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I am able to take an idea and bring it to life in an interactive form that can be used by hundreds of people. And on the other hand of cybersecurity, I really enjoy learning about network security and how I can protect information. Although it may be the inner child in me, it feels like a superhero fight between good and evil, and the excitement comes from the race to try and continue to learn more about and fortify the defenses of an application whilst black-hat hackers continue to try and penetrate it. Nevertheless, with these skills and my passions for not only technology but also Music and Neuroscience, I would like to develop something that is able to create a better atmosphere of care for underrepresented patients in hospitals who are suffering from dementia. My grandmother is Nigerian and unfortunately has the condition, and I have seen the difficulties she has undergone in order to get proper treatment. So, I would love to create an application of some sort that could combine the healing properties of music on the brain and body with machine learning to create a catered experience to patients. There is too much suffering in the world, and if we cannot yet find a cure for Dementia, we can at least make the process easier for those like my grandmother. Hopefully, with a lot of research and dedication, the power of coding and technology can once again turn my dreams into reality.

I used to find myself in an ever-changing paradox: expectations vs. reality, constantly balancing on the tightrope of everyone else’s intentions of my future while trying not to abandon my own. Although two different scenarios, my existence was exemplified by one quote “To be or not to be,” rather not life or death but balancing between the choice of being who I wanted to become and the person I was constantly pressured to be. Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a strong fear of failure. My parents, coming from poverty in Nigeria and becoming successful in America naturally set high expectations for me. And so I sought to reach the peak of everything I did, taking on three sports, orchestral studies, and the highest classes offered at my highschool. However, these were not easy tasks, as I rarely had freetime, never had very many friends, and was constantly stressed out about upcoming dates that were approaching. Soon enough, like an elastic rubber band stretched too thin, I snapped. It happened during one of my private lessons with my oboe instructor. As I was playing a relatively easy passage in the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, I kept messing up, and then the frustration turned into vast pent up emotions and I started to cry. Concerned, she proceeded to ask me what was wrong, in which I informed her of my situation. Being able to tell someone was already relieving in itself but she then told me a quote that changed my perspective. She said that Ben Carson once stated, “No matter how good you are at planning, the pressure never goes away. So I don’t fight it. I feed off it. It turns pressure into motivation to do my best.” These words stuck, and I realized that the constant anxiety plaguing my mind should be embraced and not feared. I am a gradient of my experiences, and what I’ve gone through has, like a red hot melting pot refined my steel personality into shining silver. I am going to be whatever I choose to be, and no one can tell me otherwise. I want to use this experience as well as my education to be able to empower people who come from places like me. One of my goals is to be able to use my knowledge in medicine to be able to advocate for equal healthcare in areas of under-represented communities. I saw the disparities during the peak times of Covid in these communities and constantly hear about the lack of African American Doctors, and so I not only want to provide an example to others in my community and show that they can be whatever they want to be, but also try and use the skills I learned to try and create better healthcare in those communities as well.

When I first became an oboist, I was young and simply really liked music. I didn't care about the technicality of playing, the career and performance aspect, or my future with the oboe, and I enjoyed the blissful ignorance of merely enjoying the music I was making. However, as I've grown with my playing over the years, so has my sense of purpose and passion. I play the oboe to liberate myself, and want it to be an integral part of how I make a positive impact on society today. Being an artist to me means having the ability to express yourself. Emotions that can't be put into words are given power through notes. We have the power to use our mediums to make powerful products that advocate for equality and justice, even when our physical voices may not always be given priority. As a child, I wasn't the most vocal about the things I cared about or wanted to change. But this facet of artistry is something that really drives me to continue pursuing this passion and exploring the depths of what I can experience with it. Whether it be as big as using my music to influence change in the societal treatment of people of color, or as small as using a performance to simply brighten someone's day, the ability to change someone or something for the better motivates me to keep going and work harder on perfecting my craft. At the end of the day, I want to be able to confidently say that with my music, I made a change in this world for the better. I would like to be able to increase minority participation in classical orchestras, and bless someone's life just as the programs beforehand had done for me. I feel as though with the path that I am on, one day I will be able to say that I made an impact, but I still have a long way to go. Music is powerful, and is a big part of almost everything we hear on a daily basis. I want to show people that they too can have power with music. But most importantly, I want to use my music to make the world a more equal and diverse place so that every child in future generations can freely participate in the things they love and enjoy without barriers.

Mental health’s impact has played an increasingly important role in my life. Throughout highschool and even a bit into college, I would find myself having severe mood swings that would take the joy out of certain activities such as my musical studies, or hanging out with friends. I would suddenly become frustrated in the practice room or doing homework, and have such inexplicable bouts of anger or sadness that sometimes affected the interactions I had with family and friends. Being from a Nigerian household, toxic, older, customs made me feel like I should just “get over myself”, that there was nothing wrong with me, and that these bouts of frustration were just signs of a “disrespectful and rebellious” child. Thus I continued to battle my mental health issues alone, and never opened up about what I was feeling due to some of the principles of toxic masculinity that chained my vulnerability. It wasn’t until my worst year, or my freshman year in college during the Covid-19 pandemic that I really started to learn more about what mental health was and the resources that were offered for it. I learned that what I was feeling was ok, and that I could visit on-campus therapists and psychologists to talk about these issues and get help. So, I visited a psychologist and was diagnosed with ADHD. Although it is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder in childhood, for me it felt like a breakthrough. For once in my life, I was able to put a name to things I was going through, and learn so much more about myself in just a few days of my own research of the disorder. I was prescribed Adderall which drastically helped my performance during my studies and practice, and also talked with my psychiatrist about ways I could regain control of my heightened emotions when they began to spiral out of control. From then on, my relationships improved. I am able to communicate with people when things aren’t so good, and that has allowed me to strengthen my connections as well. But the main takeaway I got from the experience was that life is not linear. There are going to be several severe ups and downs in every aspect of life, and it is ok to feel things and talk about them. And when the opportunity comes to do just that, take it. If I didn’t take what felt like a leap of faith in utilizing the resources offered by my university, I would have never discovered these things, and I might’ve still been dealing with these mental health issues, or even worse. But now, I am continuing to cultivate the best version of myself, and looking forward to all of the opportunities and joys of life that await.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

I used to find myself in an ever-changing paradox: expectations vs. reality, constantly balancing on the tightrope of everyone else’s intentions of my future while trying not to abandon my own. Although two different scenarios, my existence was exemplified by one quote “To be or not to be,” rather not life or death but balancing between the choice of being who I wanted to become and the person I was constantly pressured to be. Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a strong fear of failure. My parents, coming from poverty in Nigeria and becoming successful in America naturally set high expectations for me. And so I sought to reach the peak of everything I did, taking on three sports, orchestral studies, and the highest classes offered at my high school. However, these were not easy tasks, as I rarely had free time, never had very many friends, and was constantly stressed out about upcoming dates that were approaching. Soon enough, like an elastic rubber band stretched too thin, I snapped. It happened during one of my private lessons with my oboe instructor. As I was playing a relatively easy passage in the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, I kept messing up, and then the frustration turned into vast pent-up emotions and I started to cry. Concerned, she proceeded to ask me what was wrong, in which I informed her of my situation. Being able to tell someone was already relieving in itself but she then told me a quote that changed my perspective. She said that Ben Carson once stated, “No matter how good you are at planning, the pressure never goes away. So I don’t fight it. I feed off it. It turns pressure into motivation to do my best.” These words stuck, and I realized that the constant anxiety plaguing my mind should be embraced and not feared. I am a gradient of my experiences, and what I’ve gone through has, like a red hot melting pot refined my steel personality into shining silver. I am going to be whatever I choose to be, and no one can tell me otherwise. Since that day, I make a choice daily to wake up and pursue the passions that I truly want to do. I no longer feel confined by the expectations of others, and it has allowed me to discover so many new things about myself, things I never would have discovered being strung along like a puppet. I am able to finally be authentically me.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life, and was raised with the principles of family and hard work ingrained in my mind. I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression to her eating uncooked food to our gut-wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

I grew up watching a disease that has no cure run rampant in my grandmother’s mind, crippling her to the point where she couldn’t even remember my name, my siblings’ names, or her nine children’s. As my grandfather grew more feeble but maintained his mental fortitude, my grandmother's cognitive health rapidly declined. It started small; In the early stages, she would just act a little weird to me, but I brushed it off as typical Nigerian, old-lady grandma behavior. But little by little, it got worse, from her irrational anger and aggression, to her eating uncooked food, to our gut wrenching dismay after receiving a call informing us that she had found a way out of our cousin’s house, and was hit by a car. This experience instilled not only a major fear, but also a paramount passion in me. I never want to forget all of the experiences I’ve had, or the people I’ve met, or the things I’ve done, because they are a valuable part of who I am today. But also, I want to understand how the brain works and why these things happen, so that I can one day be able to protect the experiences, people, and things of others as well. However, it starts with researching as much as I can on the parts of the brain that Dementia attacks, how Dementia itself works, and how we can start attacking these cognitive diseases that, for now, have no cure. Another thing I want to do research on is the difference in how these diseases appear and transpire in minorities, and how treatment could differ to be better suited for those from different countries. My grandmother was an immigrant from Nigeria, and was not very Americanized at all during the onset of the disease. One of the most difficult things during this process was trying to find treatment that befit her and her needs, and so one of the major things that I want to dedicate my time researching is how Dementia and other diseases differ in minorities and others, so that treatment is optimized for them. I say all this to say, in life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to the blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these things at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

I used to find myself in an ever-changing paradox: expectations vs. reality, constantly balancing on the tightrope of everyone else’s intentions of my future while trying not to abandon my own. Although two different scenarios, my existence was exemplified by one quote “To be or not to be,” rather not life or death but balancing between the choice of being who I wanted to become and the person I was constantly pressured to be. Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a strong fear of failure. My parents, coming from poverty in Nigeria and becoming successful in America naturally set high expectations for me. And so I sought to reach the peak of everything I did, taking on three sports, orchestral studies, and the highest classes offered at my highschool. However, these were not easy tasks, as I rarely had freetime, never had very many friends, and was constantly stressed out about upcoming dates that were approaching. Soon enough, like an elastic rubber band stretched too thin, I snapped. It happened during one of my private lessons with my oboe instructor. As I was playing a relatively easy passage in the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, I kept messing up, and then the frustration turned into vast pent up emotions and I started to cry. Concerned, she proceeded to ask me what was wrong, in which I informed her of my situation. Being able to tell someone was already relieving in itself but she then told me a quote that changed my perspective. She said that Ben Carson once stated, “No matter how good you are at planning, the pressure never goes away. So I don’t fight it. I feed off it. It turns pressure into motivation to do my best.” These words stuck, and I realized that the constant anxiety plaguing my mind should be embraced and not feared. I am a gradient of my experiences, and what I’ve gone through has, like a red hot melting pot refined my steel personality into shining silver. I am going to be whatever I choose to be, and no one can tell me otherwise. As a musician, I’ve always been around music, ever since I was little. I’ve listened to many different artists, with many different messages and styles of music, but Clairo was one that really resonated on a different level. During this time of internal confusion, Clairo’s music was a light in the dark for me. Specifically, songs like “Hello” and “Pretty Girl” were songs that I could play with noise cancelling headphones and forget about the turmoil that was going on all around me, when I was conflicted with myself, and when I needed something to make me feel good. Although her song “Pretty Girl” was about her changing herself to be a “pretty girl” for someone else, it provided the spark that made me realize something internally as well. It helped me understand that I don’t have to adhere to what everyone else wants, and I can be genuinely and authentically, me.

There are so many things, people, and places in life that inspire me. They influence the person that I am today and will continue to influence the person I will become in the future. But I would be doing a great disservice if I were to credit one specific person or thing for being my greatest inspiration. Truthfully, at the core of my being, my greatest inspiration in life is possibility. Possibility is what wakes me up every morning. Possibility is what makes me do everything to the best of my ability, and encourages me to break the barriers of those abilities. The possibility that anything I set my mind to, I can manifest into reality continuously motivates me daily and sets the flame to the torch of a new day. Growing up, I never really dreamed of many different things. Up until around 6th grade, my heart was set on becoming a professional soccer player. I didn’t know about the other facets of life and career, and quite honestly didn’t care. But as I was introduced to new people and areas that expanded my horizons, my paradigm shifted. For example, I was fortunate enough to meet one band director who encouraged me to switch instruments in order to increase my value and gain better chances of doing something significant with the instrument. Now anyone could have been complacent, switched instruments, and left it at that. However, the possibilities that awaited me in this new venture are what really inspired me to pursue mastery over the instruments. With that newfound drive, I was able to gain acceptance into one of the top public universities in the nation. And along the way, I have experienced so much and so many influential people in my life that I would not have been able to if I didn’t gain the inspiration from possibility. Even so, the greatest aspect of possibility is that it is a multifaceted luminary. There is great possibility in any discipline that one chooses to pick up. Thus, per se, if I were to pick up coding, the sky's the limit, or film, the sky's the limit, and so forth and so on. And so, if there is an endless possibility in anything I do, why not do them to the best of my ability? Why not go one hundred and ten percent in the sport I’m playing, or the project I’m working on, or even the music I’m practicing? These questions are constantly being proposed by the possibilities that are always increasing and manifesting when I start something new, and what motivates me to become better and better at those things. Yes, there are extremely important things and people in my life that of course without, I wouldn’t be nearly the person I am today. But at the end of the day, when the fog is cleared and the power to my being is revealed, possibility lies there waiting.

I used to find myself in an ever-changing paradox: expectations vs. reality, constantly balancing on the tightrope of everyone else’s intentions of my future while trying not to abandon my own. Although two different scenarios, my existence was exemplified by one quote “To be or not to be,” rather not life or death but balancing between the choice of being who I wanted to become and the person I was constantly pressured to be. Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a strong fear of failure. My parents, coming from poverty in Nigeria and becoming successful in America naturally set high expectations for me. And so I sought to reach the peak of everything I did, taking on three sports, orchestral studies, and the highest classes offered at my high school. However, these were not easy tasks, as I rarely had free time, never had very many friends, and was constantly stressed out about upcoming dates that were approaching. Soon enough, like an elastic rubber band stretched too thin, I snapped. It happened during one of my private lessons with my oboe instructor. As I was playing a relatively easy passage in the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, I kept messing up, and then the frustration turned into vast pent-up emotions and I started to cry. Concerned, she proceeded to ask me what was wrong, in which I informed her of my situation. Being able to tell someone was already relieving in itself but she then told me a quote that changed my perspective. She said that Ben Carson once stated, “No matter how good you are at planning, the pressure never goes away. So I don’t fight it. I feed off it. It turns pressure into motivation to do my best.” These words stuck, and I realized that the constant anxiety plaguing my mind should be embraced and not feared. I am a gradient of my experiences, and what I’ve gone through has, like a red hot melting pot refined my steel personality into shining silver. I am going to be whatever I choose to be, and no one can tell me otherwise.

I used to find myself in an ever-changing paradox: expectations vs. reality, constantly balancing on the tightrope of everyone else’s intentions of my future while trying not to abandon my own. Although two different scenarios, my existence was exemplified by one quote “To be or not to be,” rather not life or death but balancing between the choice of being who I wanted to become and the person I was constantly pressured to be. Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a strong fear of failure. My parents, coming from poverty in Nigeria and becoming successful in America naturally set high expectations for me. And so I sought to reach the peak of everything I did, taking on three sports, orchestral studies, and the highest classes offered at my high school. However, these were not easy tasks, as I rarely had free time, never had very many friends, and was constantly stressed out about upcoming dates that were approaching. Soon enough, like an elastic rubber band stretched too thin, I snapped. It happened during one of my private lessons with my oboe instructor. As I was playing a relatively easy passage in the Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto, I kept messing up, and then the frustration turned into vast pent-up emotions and I started to cry. Concerned, she proceeded to ask me what was wrong, in which I informed her of my situation. Being able to tell someone was already relieving in itself but she then told me a quote that changed my perspective. She said that Ben Carson once stated, “No matter how good you are at planning, the pressure never goes away. So I don’t fight it. I feed off it. It turns pressure into motivation to do my best.” These words stuck, and I realized that the constant anxiety plaguing my mind should be embraced and not feared. I am a gradient of my experiences, and what I’ve gone through has, like a red hot melting pot refined my steel personality into shining silver. I am going to be whatever I choose to be, and no one can tell me otherwise.

My name is Ojochilemi Okoka. I am studying Oboe performance in the School of Music Theatre and Dance and Pre-Med at the University of Michigan. I am Nigerian but have lived in the United States for all of my life. Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in music. My mother used to show me pictures of myself as a baby, absolutely ecstatic whilst playing Fisher-Price piano and drum toys. In fact, the first event that kick-started my musical journey would be a Djembe class that my parents signed me up for as a child. Growing up, after seeing my inclination for music, I was always involved in some type of musical activity. I started off on the snare drum in fifth grade, switched to the Alto Saxophone in sixth grade, and made a final switch to the oboe in eighth grade. My band director at the time told me to switch because he felt that as a Black man, playing an obscure instrument like the oboe would bring a lot of opportunities for me. At the time, I didn't come to truly understand why he would tell me that, or why it was so important in this society's day and age. My love for biology and medicine came later on in my upbringing. During high school, I was already taking AP classes, but the IB Biology classes really sparked my love for science. And after seeing Dementia eat away at my grandmother's mental health, I knew Neurology was something I wanted to devote my life to trying to learn more about. However, it wasn't until high school that I also started to realize the significance of what my band director said to me. It wasn't until high school that I started to realize the economic disparity between different races and groups of people. I auditioned for a program called the Talent Development Program of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, whose purpose was to increase opportunities amongst African Americans and Latinos in the orchestral community. For the first time, I started going to camps across the country to advance my artistic ability that I couldn't afford. I had to ask for help from the program all the time because these places were simply out of my family's budget. I started to realize all of the opportunities that I would've missed out on without this program not because of my musical ability, but because of financial obligations. But worst of all, I realized how many people who weren't in these programs but wanted to do the same things I was doing couldn't because of the same reason. Not only this, but as I started to study biology more and continue research in that area, I also began to see how difficult it was to get equal medical treatment as an African American. How Black people had significantly less access to healthcare than white people do. How medical textbooks don't even talk about diagnosing diseases with people that have darker skin tones. Even recently, I realized how people in predominantly Black areas were given less access to COVID testing than those in predominantly white areas. In life, I want to look back and say that I made a positive change to this blatant disparity between races. I want to not only become a neurologist so that I can try to find cures for diseases such as those that affected my grandmother, but also make it easier for everyone to be able to get treatment when they need it. I also want to find a way to combine music with these efforts, so that I can do both things that I love. And in order to achieve these things, I am working really hard to gain the funds necessary to continue studying these subjects at my university. I am also joining diversity initiatives in Michigan and advocating for these changes. No child should be denied a chance to pursue their passions due to monetary barriers. No person should be denied access to basic healthcare and treatment. During a pandemic, everyone should be equally looked out for and cared about. And hopefully, one day I can look back and say that I was a part of the change I wished to see in the world.

My family comes from Delta and Edo State, Nigeria. My mother came to America on a track scholarship at the age of sixteen, and my father came later at the age of thirty-two. Nigeria, even Africa in general is not an easy place to come out of. With the poverty rate being at a staggering forty percent, severely underfunded health care, and high crime rates, daily life is a struggle and reflects the hardships of a developing third-world country. However, my parents were those that defied the odds. My mother was able to go through post-secondary education and work all the way up to getting a doctoral degree in mathematics from the University of Indiana. My father was able to earn a master's degree and a master's of business administration. They are now an assistant principal and a police officer. Seeing my parents pave a way for themselves to be successful and even set the foundations for our success is beyond inspirational. Their stories and parenting have instilled hard work, perseverance, and so much more in my character. They are such influential people in my life because they make the difficult parts of their journey look minuscule in comparison to all of the things they've achieved in this country. My parents and immigrants, in general, are modern-day superheroes. They are able to overcome so much adversity in their respective countries all for a better life for themselves and their families. It should be awe-inspiring to anybody who knows of their story. Although my intended career path and my parents do not necessarily align with each other, they still are and will continue to be pivotal parts of it. Their lives are a testament to the fact the saying, "You can do anything if you put your mind to it". In music and medicine, the majors I'm studying in school right now, the chances of becoming successful are very slim, and the process to even become these professions is grueling, slow, and full of many emotional, mental, and physical ups and downs. Nevertheless, having a first-hand experience of their personalities and being shaped by their values give me the strength and courage to accomplish my dreams. The world is my oyster, and I can enter any situation with confidence because I saw my parents do it years before. They have sacrificed and done so much for me, and I can only repay them by accomplishing everything I set my mind to.

When I first became an oboist, I was young and simply really liked music. I didn't care about the technicality of playing, the career and performance aspect, or my future with the oboe, and I enjoyed the blissful ignorance of merely enjoying the music I was making. However, as I've grown with my playing over the years, so has my sense of purpose and passion. I play the oboe to liberate myself and want it to be an integral part of how I make a positive impact on society today. Being an artist to me means having the ability to express yourself. Emotions that can't be put into words are given power through notes in which you have the utmost control over how they should be displayed and perceived. Not only does being an artist mean having your own voice, but also it gives you an opportunity to be the voice for others as well. We have the power to use our mediums to make powerful products that advocate for equality and justice, even when our physical voices may not always be given priority. As a child, I wasn't the most vocal about the things I cared about or wanted to change. But this facet of artistry is something that really drives me to continue pursuing this passion and exploring the depths of what I can experience with it. Whether it be as big as using my music to influence change in the societal treatment of people of color, or as small as using performance to simply brighten someone's day, being able to change someone or something for the better motivates me to keep going and work harder on perfecting my craft. At the end of the day, I want to be able to confidently say that with my music, I made a change in this world for the better. I would like to increase minority participation in classical orchestras, and bless someone's life just as the programs beforehand have done for me. I feel as though with the path that I am currently on, one day I can be able to say that I made an impact, but I still have a long way to go. Music is powerful and is a big part of almost everything we hear on a daily basis. I want to show people that they too can have power with music. But most importantly, I want to use my music to make the world a more equal and diverse place so that every child in future generations can freely participate in the things they love and enjoy without barriers.