From a young age, Amara Obiora ’22 loved to learn.
“I always wanted to go to school and do homework when I was a kid,” recalls Obiora, who is a double major in mathematics and middle school education. “I would ask my mom, ‘Can I get homework?’
“Then it moved to me teaching my stuffed animals and having them go to school.”
Obiora’s passion for education continued to grow.
Amara Obiora served as president of Lesley's Black Student Union and finance chair for Undergraduate Student Government.
“I always liked helping people and working with kids, and then learning how to teach and explain things came after,” says Obiora. “My mother was also a teacher. I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was in kindergarten; I just didn’t know what I wanted to teach.”
In high school, she realized she wanted to become a math teacher, and she came to Lesley to pursue her dream.
At Lesley, Obiora applied her math skills as finance chair for Undergraduate Student Government (USG), and taught kindergarteners math and Spanish at the Amigos School in Cambridge. She was president of the Black Student Union (BSU), vice president of the Fashion Club, and a member of the Dance Team.
Obiora’s leadership and commitment to excellence inspired faculty and staff from our College of Liberal Arts & Sciences to select her to receive this year’s Edith Lesley Wolfard Award, named in honor of the university’s founder.
Obiora is proud of her work to keep fellow students connected and engaged throughout the pandemic by creating BSU Zoom social events. Once they could finally meet in person again, she helped facilitate a scavenger hunt on campus.
“It was fun and helped build a lot of community with students of color,” says Obiora, who enrolled in Lesley through our Urban Scholars Initiative.
Now, Obiora is searching for teaching jobs in Boston public middle schools. She looks back on her time at Lesley fondly and she is excited to move forward and instill her passion for learning in others.
See more inspiring stories from the Class of 2022.