This month’s Farmer Focus is on student body and senior class project officer Semi Ojerinde, who aspires to be a psychologist.

SNAPSHOTS

Dream place to visit: Italy

Birthday: November 11

Favorite color: Orange and purple

Favorite type of music: Depends on my mood. All types of music.

Where were you born?: Abuja, Nigeria

ZOOMING IN 

Q: What made you want to join Student Council?

A: “The sense of community, doing service for our school and having that sense of leadership in school made me want to join StuCo. Meeting new people and being able to be there for them really made love StuCo because it feels like a family. I’ve grown close to lovely people I probably wouldn’t have known if it weren’t for StuCo.”

Q: What do you like about being project officer?

A: “I like the fact that I’m dealing with drugs and alcohol safety and health because that’s really prevalent in our society today. A lot of teenagers are involved in things that are based on that. I also like the kindness initiative because I do believe genuine kindness can affect the world and make it a better place.”

Q: What was it like being president of StuCo your sophomore year? Why did you decide to switch positions?

A: “It was stressful, but it was also a great experience because I got to meet different people and see how it is to be a leader, especially as a president. It also gave me skills to deal with different people, learn how to delegate and work with higher leadership on how to improve our school. It was really impactful to my life, but I decided to switch positions because being president was too time-consuming.”

Q: What’s your favorite project StuCo has done so far?

A: “My favorite project StuCo has done has always been Red Ribbon Week because I think drugs are a really prevalent thing in our society nowadays and bringing awareness to that is a really great thing. Seeing people participate in Red Ribbon Week dress-up days is also really nice. I like the fact that we’re spreading that message each and every year because it does grow bigger every year so we need to tackle the issue.”

Q: How do you manage school, work, being a StuCo officer, and being the president of National Honor Society?

A: “I know it sounds cliche, but managing your time and staying organized is really important. I always have a planner; I’m always writing down what I need to do. I’m always coming after school for StuCo, when I get home I work on NHS things and I’m also making sure I’m getting the best of my education by listening and teaching myself. I only work on the weekends because I don’t want to overstress myself. The key is to balance your time, stay organized and keep track of what you’re doing.”

Q: What made you want to be the president of NHS?

A: “I wanted to be the president of NHS because I’ve seen the impact NHS has made in the community. NHS has been in my life for a long time, so being president of NHS and being able to be part of the community, participating in community service and leading people who want to improve the world through community service is what I was really passionate about. I loved working with the team and advisers last year, so that really motivated me to become president.”

Q: When and why did your family decide to move to the United States from Nigeria?

A: “My family moved from Nigeria to the U.S. in October of 2009 because we wanted to start a new life and chapter here. Things were pretty good back there, but as we all know Nigeria is not necessarily in a good state right now so moving over here was just the best decision for us to grow as a family.”

Q: What was it like in Nigeria?

A: “It was hot, humid and windy. Despite that, I have good memories of my friends and church there. It’s a little bit rough, but you can see different cultures and different people with different scars. Think about it like a market area, but with different types of people. You also see really rich cobble style or Spanish-style homes. Nigeria is just like home to me.”

Q: What do you like about your culture?

A: “I love everything honestly. I love the clothes, they’re so pretty. I love the food too. I’m always craving Nigerian food and snacks. The food has so much flavor and it’s just lively. I love my language because it connects me back to home and family. I also love that in my culture we highly respect our elders, we see things from a different angle and we always have some kind of story that relates to life advice.”