Biology major chosen to deliver student commentary
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Eden Ndjami, who as a child emigrated with her parents from Cameroon to America, delivers the student commentary on behalf of classmates who graduate Dec. 14 during the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s 22nd winter commencement exercises.
The biology major is finishing her undergraduate studies in 3½ years with designs on becoming a nurse.
It’s a career choice she tested earlier this year working as a certified nursing assistant at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. In that role, under nurse-mentor supervision, she was responsible for closely monitored patients’ body temperatures, blood pressure and other vital signs, she said.
Ndjami, who also speaks French, auditioned for the honor of delivering the student commentary with the hope she could “inspire my fellow classmates to strive for their dreams no matter how big (they are).”
“A lot of people may think graduation is the end of the road,” she said, “but indeed it is not.”
“The reward for hard work is more work,” Ndjami said. “I want to be able to encourage my classmates to look up and … go as far as the east is from the west.”
A (2015) graduate of Bladensburg High School, Ndjami worked in the university’s Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology program, where she was a research lab assistant.
Dr. Ejiroghene Mayor, a marine biologist who was her research lab supervisor, said Ndjami quickly demonstrated she had the “tenacity, passion (and) ability to understand interacting concepts among organisms in a community (along with) a good science ethic.”
And, Mayor added, “she naturally has a heart to love and help people.”
Ndjami also was a member of UMES’ Biology Society and participated in a Bible study group.
“Throughout my college career, I have found joy, peace, happiness endurance and (learned) self-control,” she said.
“An old friend used to say to me … the only reason to give a speech is to change the world,” Ndjami said.
That challenge, she said, motivated her to apply and compete for the honor of delivering the student commentary – and will guide her in the remarks she’ll convey.
UMES’ registrar projects 265 students will receive degrees during the ceremony in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center that begins at 10 a.m.
