Emmanuel Ohuabunwa, Nigerian breaks Academic Record at Top American University

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa, who recently emerged the best graduating student at The Johns Hopkins University in the United States is currently lifting Nigeria’s flag high in God’s own country.

Emmanuel Ohuabunwa was named best graduating student of the 2011/2012 academic year.

What made Emmanuel’s case an outstanding one is that apart from being the best graduating student of the year, he is the first black student to record such feat in the history of The Johns Hopkins University, a school established in Baltimore in 1876.

According to the institution’s history, Johns Hopkins University is the first university founded in the Western Hemisphere of the United States, on the model of the European research institution.

From inception, research and the advancement of knowledge had been the core objective of the institution and both were integrally linked to teaching of students. And as a matter of fact, the The Johns Hopkins University marked the beginning of a revolution in higher education in the US.

So, in essence, the institution had actiually scored many firsts in the United States academic history. To start with, it set the pace for revolution in higher education.

Secondly, it was its benefactor, Johns Hopkins, who, at that initial stage gave $7 million, the largest academic philanthropic gift an individual ever contributed which was evenly divided to finance the establishment of both the university and The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Now, a 22-year-old Nigerian, Emmanuel Ohuabunwa has scored another first for the school. He has really made Nigerian, African, black students and the entire academic community in the institution proud for popularising the institution on the global plane.

Out of a possible 4.0 points which is the total grade to earn a degree in Neurosciences Emmanuel actually scored 3.98 Grade Point Average, while he also bagged the highest honours during the school’s graduation ceremony which held May 24.

Emmanuel, who hails from Arochukwu, Abia State in the eastern part of Nigeria, owing to his excellent academic record had been offered a scholarship to pursue a degree course in Medicine at Yale University in the United States.

Not only that, the “Abia Boy” has been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Society, a prestigious honour group which has 17 US presidents, 37 US Supreme Court justices, and 136 Nobel Prize winners as its members.

Historically, according to Phi Beta Kappa Society: “Five students at the College of William and Mary founded Phi Beta Kappa in 1776, during the American Revolution.

“For over two and a quarter centuries, the Society has embraced the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression.

“Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Its campus chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America’s leading colleges and universities.

“The Society sponsors activities to advance these studies, the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences, in higher education and in society at large. Invitation to membership in Phi Beta Kappa is a reflection of outstanding achievement. Its motto is “Love of learning is the guide of life.”

Likewise, Phi Beta Kappa is a leading advocate for excellence in the liberal arts and sciences in the US and boasts over half a million members and chapters at 280 American colleges and universities.

Emmanuel is now a distinguished member of the American society, as information has it that “only about 10 per cent of the United States institutions of higher learning have Phi Beta Kappa chapters, while only about 10 per cent of the arts and sciences graduates of these distinguished institutions are selected for Phi Beta Kappa membership.