![\"Graduation](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Graduation-Cap_blue-500x500-e1586882554282.png\")
<\/a>CELEBRATING SUCCESS:<\/strong> During this time when we cannot come together to celebrate our graduates, UToledo is recognizing the Class of 2020 with a series of feature stories on students who received their degrees during our Dec. 6 virtual commencement ceremony<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n An international student who transferred to UToledo, Ajoku was originally a pre-med major, until a conversation with her mother convinced her to study chemical engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked at my grades and noticed I was doing really well in all of the engineering tech-related courses. And I like solving problems, I like overcoming challenges and I like to push myself,\u201d she said. \u201cSo my mom said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you consider chemical engineering?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Ajoku joined UToledo\u2019s chemical engineering program and thrived, becoming an active member of the National Society of Black Engineers and the African People\u2019s Association on top of completing three semesters\u2019 worth of co-op placements. Even amid a pandemic, she arrived at her final semester well-prepared to graduate in December.<\/p>\n And then, as Ajoku finished summer classes at UToledo, she learned that her sister had been killed in a car accident. She had lost her dad to a heart attack the previous year. Ajoku steeled herself, pledging that she\u2019d finish strong despite the tragedy.<\/p>\n \u201cI just remember emailing my professor telling him that I was still going to continue with school because I told myself that If I could get over my dad\u2019s incident, I could still continue with school.\u201d<\/p>\n Just weeks later, though, Ajoku was in a serious car accident herself.<\/p>\n Eleanor Ajoku overcame personal tragedies to achieve her goal of graduating from UToledo in December with a chemical engineering degree.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cMy car was pushed into oncoming traffic where it collided with two other vehicles, and then a third vehicle hit us as well,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember just falling in and out of consciousness, and the next thing I realized, I woke up in a hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n That was Oct. 16. There was just weeks to go until graduation, and with major surgeries on the docket, a broken femur and humerus, and numerous bruises, aches, pains and scrapes, Ajoku had moments of self-doubt.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy is this happening right now? Why am I going through this? Why are all these tragic things happening?\u201d she wondered.<\/p>\n But Ajoku didn\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n She reached out to Tracey Hidalgo in UToledo\u2019s Office of International Student and Scholar Services for help with coordinating her class schedule. And then she got to work \u2014 despite not being able to walk at first or even write with her dominant hand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was when I first took a step from my bed that I realized, \u2018OK, I\u2019m able to stand up from my bed, then I can take my classes and exams and push through.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Despite warnings from her doctors that she would have to reschedule her graduation, Ajoku plugged away.<\/p>\n \u201cMy writing was really bad and slow,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the professors were helpful, and I also got assistance from Student Disabilities Services.”<\/p>\n Even with that help, much of her success came from within.<\/p>\n After a horrendous car accident, Ajoku plugged away on her UToledo courses from her hospital room.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cEleanor has shown the power of the mind,\u201d said Hidalgo, who had a front-row seat to Ajoku\u2019s daily journey to recovery. \u201cShe has shown The University of Toledo\u2019s value of excellence. Even when life did not go her way, she chose to continue to excel in her pursuit of obtaining her chemical engineering degree.\u201d<\/p>\n Ajoku didn\u2019t just finish, she finished strong, earning As and Bs on her finals and registering a 3.2 GPA during her final semester as an undergrad, even as she dealt \u2014 and still deals \u2014 with the effects of her accident.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still finding glass chips that I\u2019m plucking out of my body,\u201d she said, \u201cwhich is just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Ajoku\u2019s attitude toward trying circumstances is different than most.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like normally when people go through situations like this, they don\u2019t do really well with school,\u201d she said. \u201cFor me, it was the opposite. I was able to fix my mind toward graduating. It was that extra push that allowed me to sit down and study hard for school.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eleanor Ajoku’s father died last year, her sister was killed in a car accident this summer and only weeks before graduation she was in a serious car accident that put her in the hospital. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":63478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,50,34,69,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63466"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63482,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63466\/revisions\/63482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a>