May 23, 2010
Fiyinfoluwa Ani is introduced at SDSU’s commencement ceremony Sunday at Viejas Arena. Ani was awarded a diploma in biology on a 3.78 grade-point average. When Fiyinfoluwa Ani was 14, he stepped on a plane in Lagos, Nigeria, and headed for Los Angeles .
Fiyinfoluwa Ani is introduced at SDSU’s commencement ceremony Sunday at Viejas Arena. Ani was awarded a diploma in biology on a 3.78 grade-point average. When Fiyinfoluwa Ani was 14, he stepped on a plane in Lagos, Nigeria, and headed for Los Angeles . He was moving to California, with relatives waiting at the other end. There he would have more opportunities, his family told him. There he would make good.
On Sunday, he was among the most celebrated of the celebrated as San Diego State University concluded a weekend of commencement ceremonies during which it awarded nearly 10,500 degrees — the most in at least a decade.
Now 22, Ani was among the cap-and-gown set packed into Viejas Arena and was named the outstanding graduating senior in the College of Sciences. He received a bachelor of science in biology.
“It’s something,” Ani said, in the understated tone that his family says is typical of him. “I’m definitely honored by today.”
His family and friends sat in the stands, beaming.
They remember the 14-year-old Fiyinfoluwa — or “Folu,” as they call him. They know how far he has come since his boyhood in Ibadan, Nigeria.
“It’s very inspiring to watch how he’s handled the whole situation,” said Aki Soyode of San Diego, a fellow native of Nigeria and longtime friend.
Ani’s aunt and uncle, Debra and Sam Omotosho of Inglewood, recall that when they picked him up at Los Angeles International Airport in 2002, he was dressed like a British schoolboy, with a tie, shorts and long knit socks.
He quickly dumped the Harry Potter look, but not his natural bookishness.
“He was such a disciplined child,” said Debra, who along with Sam, adopted Ani. “He came here and got right with the program — studying, working hard.”
After graduating from a private high school in Gardena, Ani enrolled at SDSU, with the help of a university grant program that seeks high achievers from the Los Angeles-Long Beach area.
It was a good fit, Ani and the Montezuma Mesa campus. He played intramural sports. He got involved in a student health advisory board and campus groups committed to community service. He earned a 3.78 grade-point average and was a dean’s list regular.
“I loved it here,” Ani said. “It’s a beautiful campus.”
SDSU staged several commencement ceremonies over three days, starting Friday, including honoring graduates from the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Health and Human Services. They were among the first graduates in the nation to wear environmentally friendly caps and gowns that easily decompose in soil.
Ani will start medical school in the fall at the University of California Irvine, with the goal of possibly becoming a pediatrician and working with organizations that provide medical care in poorer countries like Nigeria.
It could reunite him with old friends and family. He has visited Nigeria once since leaving Ibadan.
He misses them, of course, along with some of his favorite back-home foods, like jollof rice.
For now, he plans to take a rare break from his studies and enjoy what sounds like a very American summer. He’ll catch a few action movies. He may go to Hawaii. And last night, Ani and his family planned to celebrate the day with a meal at Claim Jumper in La Mesa.
Steve Schmidt: (619) 293-1380; [email protected]
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