From Mentee to Mentor
When Divine Enyi was in high school at Eleanor Roosevelt, she wasn’t sure where she wanted to go to college until she interned in Caren Chang’s ethylene hormone signaling lab in the University of Maryland’s Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics. There, she met students and faculty members who convinced her that Maryland was the right decision.
“I’m a person who really likes community and social bonding, and so they made a really convincing case as to why UMD is the place to be,” said Enyi, who is now a senior neuroscience and chemistry double major.
Even with her busy schedule as a University Honors student, Guided Study Session (GSS) leader, Health Professions Advising Office senior student ambassador and Resident Assistant, Enyi still visits Chang and her lab.
“When people say don’t be a stranger, I take that literally, so when I have time, I try to go there just to say hi,” Enyi said.
She came to UMD as a neuroscience major, but when she took organic chemistry with Senior Lecturer Monique Koppel, she fell in love with the subject and became a frequent visitor to Koppel’s office hours.
“I was always in her office,” Enyi said. “It's not necessarily that I had a question all the time, but I actively tried to understand the material, and she saw that I was always in there, day in and day out.”
During one of their visits, Enyi decided to add a second major in chemistry. Then, Enyi became a GSS leader for Koppel’s organic chemistry I and II lectures and is now a GSS leader for Senior Lecturer Christiana Guest’s biochemistry course.
“GSS is a great opportunity for me to just share the resource that I was offered when I was taking orgo, because I found GSS to be really helpful and I loved the GSS leader,” Enyi explained. “She was a big motivator for why I applied to be a GSS leader. I just want to be the resource that someone provided me to other students and help alleviate their nerves or stresses.”
This wasn’t the only role Enyi took on after she was inspired by others who helped her.
“There have been people before me in this position that have shown me good examples of what it is to be an OA, good examples of an RA, good examples of a GSS leader,” Enyi explained. “To continue the domino effect, I want to act as that resource to other students.”
This love of helping others and giving back to her community is a large part of Divine’s motivation for wanting to become a doctor. She believes that all of these roles have given her the experience and interpersonal skills she needs to succeed in a career in health care, while also teaching her a lot about herself.
“In the beginning, I had lots of stage fright. I had lots of anxiety just talking in front of people,” she recalled. “Over time, I’ve built confidence in myself and in my voice and in trusting my knowledge that I can give to other people.”
These opportunities did not come to Enyi by chance. One of the most important lessons Divine learned was that opportunities came to those who ask for them.
“Closed mouths don’t get fed,” she said. “If you don’t ask for opportunities, if you don’t ask for things, if you don’t seek help, you're not going to get the help, and so I have learned don't shy away from asking for help.”
After she graduates, Divine plans to attend medical school, ultimately helping others and giving back to her community as a doctor. Her advice to incoming students is not to rush into anything, because they have so much time to do it all.
“To any freshman who's like, ‘Oh wow, she’s done a lot, I need to do stuff now,’ I would say, ‘Don’t rush,’” Enyi said. “My freshman year, I did not do anything. I did not do any clubs, I just went to class, and my classes had gaps, so in those gaps, I took a nap. I just focused on having a good foundation academically to just get adjusted to college.”
Written by Kimberly John
