Cowrie Advisor, Ikenna Acholonu, on the connection between marine biology and the student experience…
“On a beautiful spring weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in an event at the University of Leicester, run by The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation. As a member of the Advisory Board, I was invited to give a talk on building alumni networks to promote lifelong support, while giving back. Prior to my speech, Lidia, a Scholar graduating in Marine Biology, gave a talk reflecting on her experiences as a student at the University of Liverpool. In her remarks, she compared her time in university to the lifecycle of a jellyfish, starting as a polyp growing on a seafloor into a full-grown jellyfish, swimming throughout the ocean.
As someone who is not particularly well versed in marine biology, this metaphor was quite intriguing, and after much time spent on google searches and AI assisted explanations, I agreed with Lidia’s analogy. I am now convinced that all Black students in university should learn to be like jellyfish.
Black Inclusion Week is a moment where Black people are allowed to ask ourselves two questions:
1. What ways can we overcome barriers to our success? or
2. How can we amplify our voices, especially in conversations that impact our
daily lives?
I have always been an advocate highlighting that a university education can open doors for student of African descent, but Lidia reminded me that a university education was more than that. It was a chance for a Black student to evolve into the individual they were meant to be. It is a moment where they take the values and knowledge they gained from their families and communities and put them to work in a way that helps them grow into self-reliant adults. There is often a moment in their university experience that can trigger this growth. For Lidia, she highlighted her time studying abroad in the U.S. as a moment that built her confidence and showed her that she could achieve anything. In my opinion, this process greatly connects to the metamorphosis of a jellyfish.
Why the Jellyfish?
Now let’s extend this metaphor of the jellyfish to the experiences of Black students. It has already been mentioned that jellyfish start out on the seafloor and grow to swim in the ocean. But it is also true that jellyfish recycle their existing genes to prompt this metamorphosis, which helped them to survive for over 500 million years on Earth. While at The Cowrie Foundation Scholarship event, I interacted with many students of African and Caribbean descent, and in my conversations, they always spoke about their culture and their families. They shared how they were grounded by the wisdom their loved ones taught them. They were also motivated to keep true to their family values and to learn more about where they came from as people. This way of navigating university is figuratively aligned with the ‘recycling of existing genes.’ To me, it represents how even if a student is the only Black student in their course, or in their degree, they are never traveling alone. The ‘genes’, or the knowledge passed down
from their loved ones guide them as they make new choices to advance their futures.
When they step into a room, their personal history and the love of their family step in with them. And as they enter, they leave the door open for others like them to walk in. Another intriguing fact about jellyfish is that they communicate with bioluminescence, meaning that they create a self-generated light within them that shows both friend and foe, who they are. When I was with the Cowrie Scholars at the University of Leicester, the light that shined in each and every one of them was brilliant and inspiring. Whether we were having fun bowling together or having intentional
conversations about giving back to our communities or building our career paths, the impressiveness of the students was undeniable. These scholars were challenging complex ideas, conducting comprehensive research, thinking through innovative business opportunities, acting in West End plays, learning how to create documentaries, all while navigating the everyday challenges of university life. This moment, with The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation, brought some of the brightest young Black minds in the country together, and they all shone brightly from the inside out. It was an experience I felt lucky to be a part of.
Black Inclusion and The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation
While at The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation event, the courageous founder, Professor Richard Oreffo, spoke of the continued challenge of getting Black students into university across the United Kingdom. While the statistics shared were alarming, the hope brought on from this gathering of young minds was energising. One thing made clear from his presentation was that a more equitable higher education environment was possible and simply required universities to take that extra step to invest in Black students. Making a small investment in scholarships, and by providing
support for these students while they are in university, would lead to exponential impact in their lives and the lives of their families and communities. But it also greatly benefits each university, providing all students with an opportunity to grow and learn and generate new ideas from different perspectives.
By learning from the jellyfish, we can all find ways to grow from our past and work to collectively illuminate a way forward in a sometimes-dark ocean. I think that supporting Black university students will do this and will ultimately shape all our futures for the better.”
Ikenna Acholonu
Programme Manager, Uggla Family Scholars and Alumni
The London School of Economics and Political Science
Advisor, The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation
Below: Scholars at the Leicester event
