From Nigeria to Holdrege, “Joseph” in search of better education local news



Olanrewaju “Joseph” Bakare moved to Holdrege from Lagos, Nigeria, to live with his sister Ayomide Bakare, who is a nurse at the Holdrege Memorial Homes. Joseph plans to study computer science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.



Olanrewaju

During his time in Holdrege, Olanrewaju “Joseph” Bakare took part in wrestling, speech and spring musicals.

Bakare, a senior at Holdrege High School, moved from Lagos, Nigeria in 2019 at the age of 16 to live with his older sister Ayomide, who is a nurse at Holdrege Memorial Homes.

HOLDREGE – Olanrewaju “Joseph” Bakare believed he knew what to expect when he moved to Holdrege in his junior year of high school.

Bakare, a senior at Holdrege High School, moved from Lagos, Nigeria in 2019 at the age of 16 to live with his older sister Ayomide, who is a nurse at Holdrege Memorial Homes.

“When I got here, it was more difficult because I felt the immense culture shock. I came from a very noisy, busy city with similar food everywhere, different types of people. (It’s) very busy, similar to New York, to Holdrege, where I really didn’t know anyone, ”said Bakare of moving to downtown Nebraska.

Bakare is the youngest of six children and he made the difficult decision to leave his parents for a better education and new experience.

“That was tough. At the same time, I was interested in going to other places and seeing the world. It was a mixture of emotions,” he said.

When Bakare entered Holdrege High School, he asked about an advanced math class because he didn’t feel challenged. He wanted to take Precalculus and Calculus in high school to study STEM in college. He wanted to take precalculus in order to take calculus in his senior year.

“You’ve already been in class for a semester. It wouldn’t really work if I didn’t study the value of work in the first semester. I said, “I could do this.” She said, “Oh, it’s a lot.” I said, “Yeah, I’ll use my Christmas break to study what you did in the first semester,” said Bakare.

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