 As
a young child, after figuring out that her name meant
something other than ‘You come here,’ Courage
Obehi Otaigbe asked her Nigerian immigrant parents to
explain their choice for her name.
“They named me Courage because they were saying
that it takes courage to come to a whole new country,”
said Otaigbe, whose parents came to the United States
as young adults.
The name is fitting for the soft-spoken Otaigbe, who,
at 18 years old, is on the brink of completing a master’s
degree in Pitt’s School of Information Sciences.
She modestly lists her remarkable academic achievements—from
enrolling in college courses at age 13 to receiving the
Bachelor of Science degree in computer information systems
at 17—as if they are nothing out of the ordinary.
Despite always being the youngest person in class, Otaigbe
remains focused and unfazed.
Having Nigerian parents who “believe in the American
Dream” has played a major role in Otaigbe’s
scholastic determination. Receiving an education, working
hard, and setting goals were key values in her upbringing.
But the Woodbridge, Va., native primarily credits the
urging of her father, a professor of business, economics,
and sociology and Woodbridge Campus dean at Strayer University
in Virginia, as the reason for her being a teenage graduate
student.
“He encouraged me and provided incentives, like
paying me,” she said, laughing a bit guiltily before
explaining. “I wanted to get a part-time job in
high school. Instead of doing that, he would just pay
me however much I would’ve gotten from a regular
job for taking college classes.”
While her friends worked after school taking orders at
fast-food restaurants or folding shirts at shopping mall
retailers, Otaigbe took computer information systems courses
at Strayer. She earned $5.50 an hour.
By the middle of her senior year, she realized that she
had nearly enough credits for a degree. She took three
more courses and a series of placement exams during her
last quarter of high school and accepted a bachelor’s
degree simultaneously with her high school diploma.
On a full scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh,
Otaigbe will complete SIS’ Master in Information
Science program this spring. Her current research at Pitt’s
Visual Information Systems Center involves geographical
information systems (GIS), a computer software tool that,
among its many uses, gauges the level of harmful chemicals
in the air.
“You know the plant that exploded in Bhopal?”
she asked in an attempt to clarify her work. Otaigbe was
referencing the 1984 chemical plant explosion in Central
India that released a deadly gas. “GIS can be used
to determine if there are still toxic chemicals in the
air of the surrounding area. Or if farmers are producing
less crops, GIS is used to figure out why.”
While she admits that her studies are time-consuming,
Otaigbe makes it a point to allow for other activities.
She has made friends her age through involvement in a
number of the University’s undergraduate associations.
She has run on Pitt’s track team; written for an
independent, student-produced newspaper, The Pittsburgh
Standard; tutored elementary school students in the Office
of Student Affairs’ Pitt Project; and copy edited
for Blackline, the official publication of Pitt’s
Black Action Society.
This semester she also has kept busy applying to law
school, which she plans to attend this fall, when she
will be 19. There she will work toward a third degree,
in intellectual property law.
Otaigbe unwaveringly shuns suggestions to slow down and
relax before shuttling off to school again.
“It doesn’t seem like I need a break; I don’t
feel overwhelmed,” she said.
Considering that she once concurrently shouldered the
workload of both high school and college classes, moving
right along appears effortless to Otaigbe. The fact that
she is noticeably younger than her classmates is also
nothing new, so she feels none of the jittery anxiety
that one might expect.
More exactly, Otaigbe is prepared to reach her goals
with zest, determination, and, in keeping with her eponym,
courage.
|
