Category: Saturday Magazine

Senate Correspondent, SANNI ONOGU, in this piece, chronicles the revolutionary accomplishments of a 19-year-old Nigerian student in the United States who recently emerged the President of the equivalent of the Student Union Government (SUG) of the University of Wyoming (UW), United States.

There is no doubt that Nigerians are reputed for their dogged determination to make  it in life irrespective of prevailing conditions at home. But for a 19-year-old  who works 20 hours per week to emerge the student leader of a university in United States is exceptional.

Ahmed Balogun is a welcome relief from the agony and pall of terrorism cast upon Nigerians in the Diaspora by the Christmas Day underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and other countless inanities of Nigerians abroad. in Diaspora, He is unarguably a redeemer sent at the right time.

Balogun hails from Ilorin, Kwara State. He is in his final year, Engineering major, at the University of Wyoming (UW), United States. He left the shores of Nigeria at 16 after spending a semester at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. Aside his sterling academic record, he recently broke record by winning an election to become the first-ever international student to be President of the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW).

He said: “I got here when I was 16 years old. Now I’m 19. The average age of freshman (100 level students) is 18.”

Apart from being the the first international candidate to ever run for ASUW president, Balogun, during his time at UW, has “helped to promote global understanding in a multicultural and multiracial environment through his service in various multicultural groups on campus” in such positions as Chairman of the United Multicultural Council of ASUW, Vice President of the Wyoming African Students Association and Director of Diversity and Leadership with ASUW.

Since he arrived the school,  he has brought to bare uncommon leadership skills that raised him shoulder high above his peers. Balogun said his experiences on campus inspired him to run for ASUW president. “We have been involved a lot on campus serving students,” he said. “We have a lot of experience engaging with students, with hearing the complaints of students about things they want addressed, so that was our motivation to run to hopefully address these things with our experience being part of many campus programmes.”

Balogun speculated on why he pulled the win out in the end. He was quoted by Foresight, a magazine published by the UW College of Engineering and Applied Science, to have said: “We tried to appeal to everybody, not just a specific group. I think that was a huge help for us.”

With the position, Balogun presided over the student union government that oversees a budget of more than $1million, including funding for a variety of student programmes. He also serves as an ex-officio member of the UW Board of Trustees, according to Foresight. The magazine added that Balogun “arrived at the University of Wyoming in the fall of 2011 and has made his mark on internationalization ever since. With a major in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Economics, Ahmed is a scholar with passion for enhancing cultural understanding at the University of Wyoming. He has become a voice for diversity and an ambassador of the cultural contributions of the Wyoming international student population.”

It added that as an active member of the Wyoming African Student Association (WASA), Engineers without Borders, and the Muslim Student Organization, Balogun had volunteered for numerous campus activities focused on enhancing students’ understanding of international and cultural issues. “He has participated in the annual Ramadan dinner of UW, the Soccer Fiesta, International Education Week and is one of the members of the lauded WASA Drumming Group. He is an ex-officio representative of the United Multicultural Council to the ASUW, the student government of UW, and is the Secretary of the Entrepreneurs for Organizing and Networking group on campus.”

The departmental publication said Balogun had also taken an active interest in “developing his leadership skills in order to increase the impacts of his efforts to promote global understanding in the school.” Notwithstanding his rigorous academic programme, he volunteered for the intensive two-semester Multicultural Student Leadership Initiative (MSLI) programme, which was designed yo assist first-year UW students to excel in the classroom and to become campus leaders. “In this programme, he has participated in numerous leadership development activities, including designing a seminar for incoming students to assist in their transition to college and spearheading a Halloween-themed food and supply drive last fall. He also participates in the Student Leadership and Civic Engagement Programme’s Stand Out Leadership Development Series.”

Balogun, in the words of one nominator  quoted by the magazine, has a deep commitment to “increasing interaction and mutual respect between the domestic and international student communities” at UW. It added that his efforts have made him stand out as an exceptional contributor to UW and the internationalization efforts at Wyoming.

For his efforts at fostering mutual understanding in a multicultural setting, Balogun was awarded the 2012 UW IBOA Award for Excellence in Student Achievement in Internationalization International Undergraduate Student, by the UW authorities.

In response to a questionnaire  e-mailed to him by this Correspondent, Balogun said: “It has been a little hectic balancing upcoming examinations and project due dates with my new role as student body president.” He said he was motivated to run for the post by his desire to “bring change” and “offer unique perspective to improve student life.”

“A lot of students supported us because they believed in us and our ability to deliver a different perspective within ASUW (Associated Students of the University of Wyoming),” he said. “I see getting elected as the first international student in this position as a door opener for future students to be able to strive for whatever they desire regardless of their background.”

One of the main responsibilities of the post, Balogun said, is to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of UW, to ensure that whatever decisions taken  favour the students. “The trustees are representatives chosen by the state governor to manage the university. They deliberate and decide on major issues about the university such as hiring the university president and other key officials, approving construction, student fees and tuition and the university budget and many more things of that nature,” he said.

“They are sort of the steward of the university, 12 of them, and they get to manage the university for the State of Wyoming. They meet every two months and I had my first meeting last week. It was a 2.5 day mostly all day meeting where we decided and reviewed current issues facing the university. The majority of these meetings are public except for the executive session. As part of my role, I get to participate in the executive sessions where only the board members are present and we discuss critical sensitive issues which I am sworn to secrecy on. It is my role to represent the students of UW and weigh in so that whatever decisions are made is what the students are in favour of.” The tenure which started about two weeks ago, he said, would run till April, 2015.

He noted that international students face a lot of challenges carrying out their studies, chief among which is finance. “Most international students work while also going to school and taking classes.  It’s a real struggle to balance both and still maintain good grades while being social and having time to interact with friends. I can say it’s been one of my toughest challenge to work 20 hours per week and still take 15 credit hours of class per week, while also maintaining involvement with the several student clubs I am a part of. However, I see this an opportunity for me to build life skills such as time management that I will need in my future professional life post-graduation.”

Comparing education in the United States with that of Nigeria, Balogun said: “The education system here is flexible. For instance, in my sophomore year (200 level equivalent), I was majoring in mechanical engineering and the university’s honours programme, and minoring in Finance.

“There are a lot of opportunities to tailor your education to suit your needs. Again, there are co-curricular opportunities to get involved on campus and prepare you for the real world and professional skills like teamwork and time management one would need after graduation. The opportunities are limitless unlike the university system back home. I did attend a semester at ABU Zaria, so I do have insight.”

Guess what he misses most about Nigeria? His mum’s “amazing” dishes. “No doubt, what I miss most is my mum’s cooking.”

For real though, her cooking is amazing! I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to just wake up and not have to deal with cooking and all,” he said. “Oh yeah, food/cooking is another major challenge I face here as an international student. I praise her and admire her time and dedication to serving us, her children.

She cooks most of the meals in the house though she works full time 5 days a week from 9am to as late as 7-8pm sometimes.”