Stephen | Linguistics
Biography
Stephen is a senior concentrating in Linguistics at Brown. He is also pursuing a Certificate in Intercultural Competence in the Yoruba language. Yoruba is his first language, and at Brown, he has pursued various research projects studying Yoruba culture and language. One of his projects has been documenting the Ekiti dialect of Yoruba, a fascinating language that has been in decline. At Brown, he has also become very passionate about birds! He is President of the Student Birding Club at Brown, and he has had the opportunity to work on projects studying bird neuro-physiological behavior as an undergraduate member of the Fuxjager lab. His favorite bird is the hamerkop! Finally, he is also a member of Brown’s Quadball team. Go Bears!
I saw Brown's Open Curriculum as a great opportunity to be able to try new things and explore my interests in an academic setting. My high school was a very heavy "STEM" school, and while I loved my history and language classes, I felt that I had to sacrifice those interests for my "primary" interests. PLME provided me with even a greater opportunity to not only be able to learn about these different subjects, but the ability to tie them into my future career goals. PLME has also allowed me to not want to restrict myself, but be willing to take risks in my academic journey and my coursework as a student at Brown.
I think my background in a liberal education as part of PLME will make me a more well-rounded and informed physician. Understanding the deep complexities of the world around me, as well as the environment has given me a strong understanding of the importance of public and global health. Furthermore, taking so many different and unique classes each semester (I have taken a class from a new department every semester) has allowed me to be able to meet, learn, and work with so many different people with their own academic interests and skills, which have made me a better student.
I took an Environmental In/justice in African History class with Professor Nancy Jacobs in Spring 2024. I have never taken a class like that before. It combined historical linguistics which gave me a richer understanding of the relationship between Africa and the environment, and the effects of colonialism in modern day Africa. I learned about a whole new side of African history as well as the importance of addressing environmental injustice, when trying to understand the reason for modern day health outcomes on the African continent and around the world.
I have grown to be a very adventurous person during my time at Brown, outside of the classroom! I've had a great time exploring Providence and Rhode Island by visiting various parks and wildlife refuges. I was able to study abroad in the Spring of 2025 in Denmark where I solo traveled to so many new places, learned a new language, and got to meet so many cool and interesting people.
I'm passionate about addressing communication and information barriers in healthcare, especially related to the outcomes for patients from either a minority or low socio-economic background in the United States and other places. I developed this passion from my experiences in my hometown in Nigeria, Ilara-Mokin. Ilara-Mokin still suffers from high infant mortality rates, as well as high rates of neglected tropical diseases like schistosomiasis. My opportunities as a PLME student at Brown has allowed me to be able to learn about the importance in educating and hearing from those in vulnerable populations, and I hope to incorporate that into my future in medicine.