AURORA | Academic stardom and a solid career path isn’t enough for Blessed Otabil. He wants more.
The native of Ghana is vice president of membership for the Community College of Aurora’s Phi Theta Kappa’s honor society. He’s completed Undergraduate Pre-Health Program run through the Anschutz Medical Campus and Kaiser Permanente, and has since moved on to a job as a health care tech at Denver Tech. Most importantly, Otabil, 26, will graduate this week with an associate of science degree and an impeccable GPA.
But as Otabil prepares to head to Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the fall, he wants the ultimate honor.
“I want to be called ‘nerd,’” Otabil said, his English marked by the musical accent of his native Ghana. “I want to deserve the title. I don’t think I’m really there yet.”
The negative connotations that most Americans would associate with the word hold no sway on Otabil. He sees the term as a validation of his years of hard work, as an indicator of his future goals in the medical field. For Otabil, “nerd” hints at his love of science and it sums up his commitment to eventually becoming a doctor.
“I’ve always known. I decided I wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid,” he said. “Without knowing what it really meant, I selected that as a career, and I never deviated from it.”
In Ghana, the goal drove Otabil to posts in his high school’s Red Cross Society chapter. After graduation, the ambition landed him a teaching position in a private school in his hometown of Prestea. His love for science eventually convinced him to travel to the United States. He decided to make the move after winning the Diversity Visa Lottery. With only $100 in his pocket, he set out four years ago for a new life in a foreign country.
“There was more opportunity,” he said. “After high school, I didn’t really have a chance to go to university. Coming here, I knew it would give me a chance to go to school and become what I always wanted to be.”
That opportunity didn’t come without its challenges. Otabil’s living situation has been unpredictable. In four years, he’s moved from temporary home to temporary home; in the months following his arrival, he struggled to find a job and earn enough money to buy food. Those early challenges gave Otabil doubts about coming to America.
But thanks to his own perseverance and some help from CCA Student Success Center Director Libby Klingsmith, Otabil has found a degree of security. Otabil still mourns the fact that he hasn’t been able to afford a visit back home, but he’s set down roots and found direction in Colorado. He’s gaining firsthand practice as a future doctor in his job at Denver Health, and he’s already lined up $16,000 in total aid for his first year’s tuition at CSU. He’s also ready to face new adventures in a different city.
“I’m not nervous at all,” he said. “I can go and start afresh. That’s what I think is going to happen when I move to Fort Collins.”
With ultimate goals of attending Johns Hopkins University, CSU is sure to offer Otabil plenty of chances to properly earn a designation as a full-fledged nerd.
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at 720-449-9707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com