Chris certainly is accustomed to being part of a community and to work as part of a team! Ask anyone who has lived in a full house! Having 10 sisters and 11 brothers, as Chris has, can get quite crowded. But that was a vital lesson for him. ‘My dad always told me that you have to go out to the world and you have to be good to everybody’. Being humble, keeping both feet on the ground and just getting along with each other are Chris’ life commandments.
Coming from Nigeria certainly did not make things easy when choosing a career path, especially one that is prominent to humanity’s future. But it was Chris There’s goal, studying computer science and being part of the innovators of tomorrow. Isn’t that what ‘Believing in you’ is all about? Getting out of your comfort zone and just give it a go? ‘From when I was young, I knew I was going to study in Europe. I didn’t know when, but I knew’, he recollects. At EUC, he found a place to call his ‘educational home’. A safe place to learn, to belong and to evolve. He describes the experience best. ‘It gives me too many opportunities to learn. It’s so important to be amongst so many different people, you learn a different kind of things’.
You can see it in his eyes, he is passionate and he has a thirst for knowledge. These are characteristics you find at people that are truly born fighters. ‘I dare, I struggle, I physically challenge myself and I achieve it’! It’s the natural course of things to get you to success and that’s what won Chris the first prize on ‘Logo Design’ at the Academic Student Conference. The Nigerian is all kinds of talented and he has a soft spot for music! He is a member of the EUC’s music club, bringing his home beats and the musical culture of his Nigerian ancestors to the club’s forefront. A place where watching this mixture of civilizations, aesthetics, and personalities unify and blend in harmony together, is mesmerizing. Where different is normal.
‘Focus on what you want to do. Focus on your dream! Focus! I have a dream of being a filmmaker and I’m going to fight to make it’! Isn’t what Chris is suggesting the keyword to climb every personal and professional mountain? Focus! No one said that you’re going to get from the bottom to the top from day one. You need the faith that Chris has. You need the persistence that Chris has. You need the clarity that Chris has and you need to be humble like Chris is. That’s why we know that he somehow is going to get the most out of his life and stretch that life arrow to its limits to get it to the center of the target. Because he has his own ‘Believe in you’ manual and it seems to be working!