Temi Ojo

I AM ABEL FOUNDATION'S STILL STANDING AWARDEE 2016

Temi Ojo, a first year medical student at Rosalind Franklin Medical School In North Chicago, gave a riveting heart felt message to all of our students in attendance.  She was the Urban Bridges Medical Mentoring Programs 2016 "Still Standing" Awardee given to a minority medical student demonstrating excellence and perseverance in medical education.  She remains a shining example of how failures can be used as steps towards triumph and conquest.  She made it clear that this will be a road of twists and turns and that it would not be easy but with faith and hard work, would come to past.

Temi was born in Ibadan Nigeria.  She was educated and grew up, however, right here in Chicago.  Though she did well in college, her medical school dreams were at one point deferred and nearly denied.  But she asserts that with every failure, she never gave up and with each fall, she got back up every time.  In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, she says "faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into."

She describes her mother as her inspiration but knows that it has "taken a village" to bring her this far.  One of her her mentors, Dr. Fred Richardson, MD presented Temi with the I AM ABEL FOUNDATION'S STILL STANDING AWARD because Temi knows what it means to stand in the face of adversity.  She currently finds time to work as a teacher's assistant in anatomy to help other students.  She also makes time to give back to I AM ABEL FOUNDATION students who aspire to one day where the short white coat as well.  Temi's journey most assuredly put the "test" in testimony and despite all of her challenges, she has declared to us all that she is "STILL STANDING!"

Written by LaMenta Sweetie Conway, MD, MPH