SEYI GESINDE takes a look at the outstanding achievements of Olu Onemola, a Nigerian student who recently bagged seven awards at Lehman College in the United States.

A Nigerian foreign student, Olu Onemola, has again done Nigeria proud in the United States, as he won seven awards during a recent graduation ceremony at the Lehman College, the City University of New York (CUNY), where he was a student.

The awardee, a former president of Lehman College’s Student Government, is said to be the son of Bukun-olu Onemola, Nigeria’s Deputy Ambassador at the United Nations in New York.

For his enviable academic performance as a Political Science Student at Lehman College, Olu was presented with a distinguished “Golden Key’’ award by International Honour Society, an academic honour society renowned for high-achieving scholars.

Apart from that, he also got the Pi Sigma Alpha award – National Honour Society in Political Science, and The Jacob Hammer Memorial Prize in English which is specially reserved for a student leading in theatre performance.

Olu equally won the Edgar Dawson Prize in Political and Legal Theory, an award reserved for an outstanding Political Science graduate with the strongest portfolio of political and legal essays and the CUNY Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence in Leadership Award.

He also bagged the Cum Laude award which is a Latin term that signifies “With Honours.” The Cum Laude award given to Olu is a mark distinction reserved for graduates with 3.4 to a 3.59 Grade Point Average ((GPA).

“My impression is that hard work definitely pays off. Being able to achieve such feats, while serving as the President of the Student Government, is a testament to hard work,’’ Olu said after receiving the award.

Besides the awards, Olu, according to Lehman today, a publication of Lehman College, as a graduating student was named among two other students as a leader among colleagues at Lehman College.

According to Lehman Today, Olu, as a fresh student at the College decided to join Lehman’s Student Government.

The following semester, in spring, 2010, Olu contested for a senate seat, which he won and later became the president of Student Government.

Before he emerged the president, Olu had already committed himself to good service as he said: “I made a promise to myself that I would get involved on campus in whatever capacity I could, in order to, one day, serve the students on the student government.”

Now after graduation, Olu still plans to attend law school and specialise in international law with the hope of leading the United Nations one day.

“I have always been an enthusiastic political junkie and nerd. Understanding power, power relations and the varied interests that govern our world intrigue me,” Olu told Lehman Today.

Earlier in the institution, Olu had been installed as one of the first members of Lehman’s new President’s Service Corps. He was inducted into the group by the President of Lehman College, Ricardo R. Fernandez, as part of Civic Engagement Recognition Day.

As a member of this Corps sponsored by the Office of Community Service/Service-Learning in the Division of the Student Affairs of Lehman College, the President’s Service Corps, which is an elite group of seven students is responsible for increasing student engagement through service across the campus and within the community.

Olu, plus other members of the team were responsible for making classroom presentations and spoke at major campus events, while they also represented Lehman College in the community. Those were the responsibilities of President’s Service Corps.