Page 248 - The Den Yearbook 2015 (Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja)

LEWECHI UGONMA

NKATA

When you graduate, people talk about you. There's hardly any stopping that. They
talk about what you did and did not do, how your face contorted when you got
angry, how you were consistently in trouble or how you were the paragon of
virtue. People talk about such trivial matters. Even those who barely met you, yet
alone knew you, would suddenly acquire bravado once you're out of the iron gates
of Loyola and speak as though they were your own flesh and blood. Nonetheless, I
always wondered what those who knew me during my low-cut “struggle” days at
Loyola would say about my life and times two, three years after my graduation.

What do I want to be remembered for?
I considered this before, all the way back in my JS1, when my cheeks were not-so-
little balls of fat. I decided I was going to make a proper name for myself. I didn't
even consider how I would achieve said feat; I simply knew that that was what I
wanted to do for myself. I was as ambitious as they came.I still want to be
remembered of course. I want to be remembered as the average-heighted dark-
skinned Connelly house girl that cared. Forgive me if I sound cliché. By caring, I
don't mean that condescending emotion that involves series of tentative pats on
backs and exaggerated cries of “Sorry ehn” to any offended Tom, Dick or Harry
that crossed my path. Even if I did not love widely, I hope to have loved deeply. I
heard something like that from a movie. I've always admired those who were able
to be comforting without being patronizing. I've wanted to be one of those who
cared because they chose to, not because the world demanded them to.
There was this lovely girl that graduated when I was a junior. My goodness, she
was such an intellectual. She wasn't introverted or a recluse as the smart-girl
stereotype goes. On the other hand, she had this innate ability to expertly juggle
her academic, spiritual, social and sport lives. That is basically what Jesuit
education builds you into, isn't it? It transforms you into a graduant at graduation-
a complete package, fully equipped to take on the world. That is exactly how I'd
like to be remembered- as a balanced academic. Honestly, all that top notch
education would have been in vain if every other aspect of your life was left to rot.

I never really did have lightning-fast wit or an acerbic mind. I was never the most
outgoing of the lot. However, I offered Loyola what I had in 2009 and through the
years, she has tried to whip me into shape. She taught me to be strong in spite of
the circumstances; she showed me that life hardly is fair and you simply must
come out with delicious lemonade in spite of the terrible lemons life throws you.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I am a product of Loyola and no matter where I go,
I'd like to be remembered that way.

Lewechi Ugonna NKATA, ‘15

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