Boston College granted Chiamaka Okorie, CSON ’17, the 2016 Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Scholarship at a dinner last week.
The award is presented annually to a junior who demonstrates academic achievement, involvement in extracurriculars, involvement within the African-American community, and passion about African-American issues.
“It’s such a huge honor,” Okorie said to the Office of News and Public Affairs. “Martin Luther King was able to unite a whole host of people for one mission, and that’s because he centered it on something that’s beyond race, that goes down to core identity.”
Okorie was born in Nigeria and moved to the United States when she was only eight years old. After returning to Nigeria to visit, Okorie decided to give up her plan to be a political science major and transferred to CSON. She now hopes to work in public health policy after testing the waters as a nurse post-graduation.
Okorie traveled to Ghana last summer to conduct research on malaria prevention for mothers and their children. She later shared her research at the Conference on Child Rights and Sight at Yale University.
At BC Okorie serves as the vice president of the Black Student Forum. She also works as a Resident Assistant and has created programs to increase dialogues about race on campus. Okorie also works with Campus Ministry.
Featured Image Courtesy of The Office of News and Public Affairs
