Statesman Scholar Aika Temu

I am a second-year international student from Tanzania, a beautiful country located in eastern Africa. There are many interesting facts about Tanzania. For example, over 100 different languages are spoken there, making it the most linguistically diverse country in the vast continent of Africa.

My family moved to the United States and settled in Petersburg so I could get a good education. We were fortunate to make Virginia home when my father was able to secure a great job as an Associate Professor at Virginia State University.

When I decided to attend Richard Bland College of William & Mary, there were many areas of my life that I had yet to figure out. As a high school junior, I thought I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and, most importantly, my college major. As a senior, the future that I had laid out was beginning to look more translucent than transparent. I had a difficult time deciding what college would be the “best fit” for me.

I got accepted to VCU but was uncertain about the prospect of jumping straight into a huge university. A teacher advised me to consider a smaller school like Richard Bland, and I realized that RBC would be a perfect place to begin my college studies.

During my first semester, I was still uncertain about my career path. I was overwhelmed with the endless possibilities before me. Despite being unsettled about my future, everything felt comfortable for me at RBC. I knew that being here would make things clearer and help me to focus.

My parents fostered a very nurturing, caring and loving home. Being at RBC helped me to decide that I wanted to love and take care of people like they did for my siblings and me. For this reason, I am pursuing a degree in Nursing, and plan to attend Bons Secours next year.

RBC professors have brought out the best in me, most notably my psychology professor Dr. Barbara Morgan. Psychology has always been one of my passions because the human brain fascinates me. I am intrigued by the decisions that people make and the reasons why. Thanks to the classes I have taken with Dr. Morgan, my love for psychology will always have a place in my life and will be useful to me as a nurse.

RBC’s smaller academic setting gave me an opportunity to be closer and more open with an unfamiliar group of people who were once “strangers” and then became friends. I am looking forward to a great sophomore year and taking what I have learned at RBC to the next stage of my life.