While somestudents knew they were ready to attend college, one student thought just theopposite.
The latter partof this statement referred to Osereime Aiuma, a junior fine arts major fromRayne.
Aiuma, who’sfirst name means “God’s gift” said “I never thought I was good enough to attendcollege and I never thought I was smart enough. But now I realize I am goodenough to be here.”
With his areas of interest being drawingand painting, Aiuma soon found that he needed to have creative freedom, inorder to thrive.
“I went toGrambling first and I didn’t like it there. Their art department didn’t allowme to have freedom. When being creative I enjoy breaking the rules and testingthe boundaries,” Aiuma said.
Soon aftercoming to Southern University, a semester later Aiuma immediately knew where heshould have been from the beginning.
He cheerfullysaid “I have more freedom at Southern because the art department encouragesboundless creativity and they do not mind if I break the rules. The departmentmade me focused on my artwork and the students are in competition all thetime.”
Raised mainlyby his mother, Aiuma considers his mother to be his biggest inspiration.
“My mom is mybiggest inspiration because sometimes she had three or four jobs just to takecare of me. She raised me by herself because my dad wasn’t there,” Aiuma said.
Aiuma, who hasfaced many trials, found some of his most difficult obstacles when going backhome shortly after starting college.
“In small townseverybody knows everybody and in some ways I was affected positively andnegatively by the area I grew up in. Some people who were struggling, thoughtthat since I was in college, I thought I was all that and made me think Iwasn’t good enough to be in college,” Aiuma said. “Now that I am almost at theend everybody encourages me to keep going.”
Aftergraduation, he plans to attend graduate school so he can later study animation.
“I want to workwith major Animation Company like Disney or Dreamworks,” Aiuma said.
With plansbeing made for his future, Aiuma doesn’t just think about how future successwould benefit himself, but rather his mother.
He proudly said”The main reason I want to make something out of myself is for her. She tookcare of me, so I want to be able to take care of her.”
Soon to be asenior in college, Aiuma wants to encourage others to remain focused on theirgoals.
“Don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do and never take no for ananswer,” Aiuma said.
