Kelechi Onwuzurike
Kelechi Onwuzurike is a sophomore majoring in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.
How has PEERS helped you achieve your academic goals?
PEERS has played a significant role in my UCLA experience. PEERS has greatly helped me with class enrollment and class planning as I have taken their schedule since freshman year. Having access to a PEERS counselor has also been proved very useful. My counselor has given me many resources, and I’ve been able to connect with them on a deeper level than any other counselor on campus. The PEERS workshops offer space to extend my knowledge and skill in my courses and converse with like-minded individuals, form study groups, and make more friends.
What advice do you have for an incoming PEERS freshman?
PEERS is offering you a lot of resources, so definitely try to take advantage of them. Use your resources to the fullest, and this is general advice that goes out of the PEERS program. UCLA has a plethora of resources to engage in. Research opportunities, clubs, and programs are all around you. In terms of our courses, you are a part of AAP, so you can also utilize PLFs. You will have learning assistants in your STEM classes to help you out, and you have office hours for your TA’s and professors that will benefit you as you can ask all the questions you want about course material. Outside of research, there are tons of clubs to join. Whether it’s sports club teams, anime/media clubs, or student associations, there are tons of communities to be a part of. Now is the time to create your own story, your legacy!
What are you involved in outside of academics? And how has your participation shaped your UCLA experience?
After falling in love with the LS7A course, I became a learning assistant in the spring quarter of my freshman year. I am still currently a learning assistant, and I have a lot of fun facilitating learning, creating an equitable learning environment for all students, and engaging with material I love. I had another chance to do this as a Peer Learning Facilitator for AAP Freshman Summer Program for the Chemistry 96 course. I would definitely love to be a PLF again sometime later in my college career. I also spent time in quarantine volunteering through Cope Health near my area, in which I gained a lot of hands-on experience with patients and met a plethora of health professionals! Being a recent member of the BISEP Summer Program, I am currently an undergraduate researcher in the Black Lab. The lab is pretty cool as we study the RNA splicing mechanism and its errors and implications in cancer, neural stem cell development, ALS, and other neurodegenerative diseases. I also recently joined the Nigerian Student Association, where I can engage other ambitious Nigerian students like myself. Through all these different communities, I truly feel there is a place or community for everyone at UCLA. If you haven’t found it now, you definitely will. I’m sure of it!
What are your future career goals? And how has your background influenced your career goals?
Being a part of research and the pre-med path, my future career goal lies in an MD-Ph.D, the physician-scientist! The day I imagine goes something like this: I’ve just finished my day in the hospital, seeing my patients and performing physician duties. After this, I can go to my lab, where I am the principal investigator. In my lab, we’ll perform translation science, turning laboratory observations in the biomedical sciences into novel clinical interventions and treatments! However, being an underrepresented minority in the STEM community, I would like to create an equitable environment for other peers, who may be underrepresented, or disadvantaged, or low-income, and much more. Programs such as BISEP, AAP Peer Learning, & PEERS are inspiring as they strive to create an inclusive environment in education & research. To be a part of such programs in any capacity, whether it’s my own or one of these, is a PRETTY big must for the future. Just like my role as P2P mentor, PLF, or LA, I believe in paving a way towards equity for my peers in a world where it seems there isn't any.Kelechi Onwuzurike is a sophomore majoring in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.
How has PEERS helped you achieve your academic goals?
PEERS has played a significant role in my UCLA experience. PEERS has greatly helped me with class enrollment and class planning as I have taken their schedule since freshman year. Having access to a PEERS counselor has also been proved very useful. My counselor has given me many resources, and I’ve been able to connect with them on a deeper level than any other counselor on campus. The PEERS workshops offer space to extend my knowledge and skill in my courses and converse with like-minded individuals, form study groups, and make more friends.
What advice do you have for an incoming PEERS freshman?
PEERS is offering you a lot of resources, so definitely try to take advantage of them. Use your resources to the fullest, and this is general advice that goes out of the PEERS program. UCLA has a plethora of resources to engage in. Research opportunities, clubs, and programs are all around you. In terms of our courses, you are a part of AAP, so you can also utilize PLFs. You will have learning assistants in your STEM classes to help you out, and you have office hours for your TA’s and professors that will benefit you as you can ask all the questions you want about course material. Outside of research, there are tons of clubs to join. Whether it’s sports club teams, anime/media clubs, or student associations, there are tons of communities to be a part of. Now is the time to create your own story, your legacy!
What are you involved in outside of academics? And how has your participation shaped your UCLA experience?
After falling in love with the LS7A course, I became a learning assistant in the spring quarter of my freshman year. I am still currently a learning assistant, and I have a lot of fun facilitating learning, creating an equitable learning environment for all students, and engaging with material I love. I had another chance to do this as a Peer Learning Facilitator for AAP Freshman Summer Program for the Chemistry 96 course. I would definitely love to be a PLF again sometime later in my college career. I also spent time in quarantine volunteering through Cope Health near my area, in which I gained a lot of hands-on experience with patients and met a plethora of health professionals! Being a recent member of the BISEP Summer Program, I am currently an undergraduate researcher in the Black Lab. The lab is pretty cool as we study the RNA splicing mechanism and its errors and implications in cancer, neural stem cell development, ALS, and other neurodegenerative diseases. I also recently joined the Nigerian Student Association, where I can engage other ambitious Nigerian students like myself. Through all these different communities, I truly feel there is a place or community for everyone at UCLA. If you haven’t found it now, you definitely will. I’m sure of it!
What are your future career goals? And how has your background influenced your career goals?
Being a part of research and the pre-med path, my future career goal lies in an MD-Ph.D, the physician-scientist! The day I imagine goes something like this: I’ve just finished my day in the hospital, seeing my patients and performing physician duties. After this, I can go to my lab, where I am the principal investigator. In my lab, we’ll perform translation science, turning laboratory observations in the biomedical sciences into novel clinical interventions and treatments! However, being an underrepresented minority in the STEM community, I would like to create an equitable environment for other peers, who may be underrepresented, or disadvantaged, or low-income, and much more. Programs such as BISEP, AAP Peer Learning, & PEERS are inspiring as they strive to create an inclusive environment in education & research. To be a part of such programs in any capacity, whether it’s my own or one of these, is a PRETTY big must for the future. Just like my role as P2P mentor, PLF, or LA, I believe in paving a way towards equity for my peers in a world where it seems there isn’t any.