4years ago

Olawole Aregbesola

CP 105

Aaron V. Smith

A Few Chapters of My Book

I am the product of an African dream. Born to parents struggling to make ends meet; they named me, Olawole which means “Wealth, Come In.” I am a Nigerian-American born and raised on the South Side Chicago, Illinois by Gani and Bolaji Aregbesola. My parents, born in Nigeria, worked hard for their privilege to be in America. Even when they arrived here, their problems increased and their struggle became tougher. They were faced with great adversity but always overcame them at the end of the day. My parents are the origin of my competitive drive to be the best I can be; they ignite and fuel the fire within me. The tenacity, determination, and courage my parents have are instilled in all of their seeds, including myself.

Speaking of their seeds, my brothers are Bolaji and Remi. Being that I am the youngest of three, I was always under their wing. They are the people I look up to and learn from. Whenever I need anything, I can always count on them to be there. Even though they are my brothers and are much older than I am, they still fulfill the role of a friend and I appreciate them for that. My other brother, not biologically, is Romeo. Romeo and I have been friends since the sixth grade. Even when I left for college and we split ways, we still kept our close bond. It feels as if we have been through everything together. We have rejoiced together, cried together, and even fought with one another. He is the first person I notify when there is a problem in my life or if I receive a blessing. What I value most about our relationship is our growth. Many childhood friends, as they become older, they grow apart. We have actually grown together, maturing and are developing simultaneously.

Growing up, I hated some of the way things were, but grew to appreciate them when I became older. For instance, when I was younger I always wanted the newest shoes, best clothes and the latest video games. When all my friends had the aforementioned items, I did not; I did not receive new sneakers until my shoes were worn out and new clothes until they were dingy. That alone taught me two things to live by: be content with what I have and also appreciate what I have. Just like any other person, I still buy things I want, but for the most part I only buy necessities. Another major aspect in my household is respect. Respect is Nigerian culture. Children that are respectful, obedient and stay away from mischief are valued by Nigerian parents. I had to be obedient to everyone in my household and follow every order given to me whether it was from my father, mother or brothers. If I ever spoke back to my parents or brothers after they have given me an order, there would be harsh consequences. Specifically, as a child I remember every night when my parents finished their dinner I had to gather their plates and wash them, if I didn’t they would discipline me. That may seem minute, but that task is part responsible for me becoming the respectful person I am. The home training I received overlapped with the way I interacted with people outside my home, in the American society. For example, I would call all of my friends’ parents by their last, never by their first, while other friends of mine would call them by their first name; I was taught that is disrespectful.

In college and life period, prioritizing is necessary. My parents never let me step foot outside my house to play until my homework was done correctly and chores were complete. As a result, I am a good student till this day, paving a great road for me to continue in life, all due to their parenting skills.

Growth, it never ends. It is a long journey with no destination, only progression. My family started me on this journey and now that I am in college, on my own, I am forced to pick up where they left off. I recently came to the conclusion that I will always be a student. Learning never ends, therefore I will continue to acquire knowledge and incorporate it to my life, enabling me to become the best individual I can be.

Before coming to UW-Madison I didn’t appreciate my culture. I was a bit ashamed. My friends from high school would always taunt and joke about our customs and traditions. The mockery would sometimes lead me to want to be something else, American like them.  When I came to college it was as if I was reborn. I obtained a new outlook on life and myself. I asked myself, what is my greatest fear? After much thinking, it hit me like the rain on a stormy day. One of my greatest fears is losing my culture. My culture defines a part of who I am. If I lose my culture, our customs and traditions, I lose myself. Knowing this, I could not let that happen. I am, and forever will be Nigerian.

Over the past few months I have become closer to God. I started seeking my purpose in life; thinking, why did He put me on this earth. Then I began to think about my interests and what makes me happy. Me helping others achieve and learn is what brings me the most joy. I want to be known as a resource and an advocate for my community. I am currently volunteering as a mentor to younger children and as time progresses, I will continue to increase my time in the community, helping our young leaders becoming the best individuals they can be. Because I feel the children of African descent are most at risk of failure in the American society, I started with them, and I plan on branching out to other races as time pass.

The first student organization I ever joined was in high school, on the boy’s basketball team. Ever since I was in elementary school I wanted to play basketball; I love playing the game. To me, basketball was an organization, sport, and a job. I worked hard all four years in high school playing basketball. I had positive and negatives experiences while playing on the team and I am glad I experienced them all because they taught lessons and helped make me the better man I am today. From playing basketball I learned how to deal with failure. What I mean by that is, when I used to lose games or have bad days, I always came harder the next day or the next game to redeem myself and to put forth my best effort. This attitude is something I apply to almost every aspect of my life.

While in high school, I only had one job. That was with Project Brotherhood; a non-for-profit organization aimed to assist with the health and development of Black men. Because my mother worked in the same office as this organization she referred me to the coordinator who eventually hired me. I worked for Project Brotherhood for four years and can truly say it was a good experience. My tasks included, preparing food, filing papers, designing fliers and other office responsibilities. At Project brotherhood, I was forced to battle my weakness, public speaking. The organization always put me in situations in which I had to converse with a large group. It taught me to face my fears and try my best to overcome them. They also helped me with other weaknesses and strengths I possessed. Like high school basketball, Project Brotherhood taught me life lessons and experience that I will truly value for the rest of my life.

My second job, which is my current job, is at Ingraham deli; I acquired this job freshman year of college. At first, at the deli it was all positive experiences. I learned skills I never had before; I’m always excited to learn things I never knew. I acquired skills such as: performing monetary transaction, preparing pastries/ snacks, and customer service. However, after my first year there it became boring. Although I gained experience with customer service, stocking, cutting pastries, etc., I began to feel underemployed because my best talents were not being maximized.

This year is the first year I joined an organization in college. I am currently members of WBSU (Wisconsin Black Student Union) holding a position on the finance committee and one of the founders of WABM (Wisconsin Association of Black Men). Both have been a great experience for me and are teaching me a lot about responsibility. With WBSU, I am being taught to write grants, keep track of our budget and other financial matters. My role in WABM is not quite as major because I do not hold a position on the executive team. However, I am shadowing the members now so I will be prepared next year when I join the team.

I have a strong passion for math and solving its mind bottling problems. I don’t know what it is but ever since I was in elementary school I was skillful at math. There is no coincidence that when I came to college I pursued a math related major, Actuarial Science. After college, with my degree in Actuarial Science I plan to become an Actuary for a leading insurance company. To further prepare myself for a career as an Actuary, I plan to obtain Actuarial internships during my undergraduate career. However, I view my job as an Actuary as a form of income; it is not my true desire. My desire and love lies in the community. When I have the funding, I plan to establish a recruiting/tutoring service for high school students who aspire to play college basketball. I decided on this because I had dreams of playing basketball collegiately but unfortunately it didn’t work out for me. The institutions that were interested in me were all small colleges that did not have very good academic programs that could compare to UW's. I could not trade a great education/experience for basketball; therefore I declined and chose UW. There are so many of our young brothers and sisters with the same dream as myself, I just want to help them reach them, while helping them become better individuals.