5 minute read
Ayomide Oloyede '25
AYOMIDE OLOYEDE ’25
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND FRENCH MAJOR FROM COLUMBUS, GA
The first time that Ayomide “Ayo” Oloyede heard of Tufts was in high school when he poked fun at an older friend who, having just joined the Tufts football team, strode by decked out in paraphernalia. Later, when he was applying to college through QuestBridge, the idea of Tufts’ Combined Degree program briefly piqued his interest as someone always drawn to artistic pursuits like poetry and theater. But as a high school senior hailing from Georgia and graduating in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, his understanding of Tufts’ campus was primarily relayed through virtual tours and online videos. “Actually coming here was my first time seeing snow,” Ayo explained.
I sat down for a coffee with Ayo, and our conversation quickly jumped from one topic to the next. A sophomore planning to study international relations, civic studies, and French, Ayo certainly keeps himself busy: from working as a resident assistant in Hill Hall to making music with his friends, he is a charismatic, creative person with lofty goals.
Ayo participated in the First-Year Orientation CommUnity Service (FOCUS) Pre-Orientation program and recalls really appreciating his leaders and the experience. “I got to meet some people early on who I still talk to. I’m actually making an EP with one of the people from my FOCUS group.” After settling down in the swing of his first semester, living in a triple in West Hall, Ayo said he really hit it off with his two roommates. “My roommate was dope,” Ayo laughed. “A random roommate but it was the perfect situation, because we literally came from pretty much the same background: first-generation and low income. Both of our parents were immigrants. We just had a lot to talk about.”
This past spring semester, Ayo has been working at the MIT Security Studies program as a research assistant in the Bombs Away Network, which falls in line with his potential concentration in international security. Interning in a team of six, Ayo described their intention of understanding how to “take advantage of moments when there’s a lot of focus on nuclear issues to kind of push for nuclear non-proliferation” and conceptualize messaging to inform people about potential threats.
Outside of the classroom, Ayo’s regard for community relationships goes beyond theory. As the FIRST community senator in the Tufts Community Union Senate, he represents first-generation, lowincome and undocumented (FGLIU) students. “I work on projects that are FGLIU-related. I helped with a lot of the planning on first-gen week and a lot of admin-facing advocacy. Like, ‘let’s get a program out about digital literacy’ or ‘let’s have a bridgingthe-gap program for FGLIU students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are already behind in the CS world by the time they get here because maybe they’ve never coded before.’”
Having spent the summer working as a Congressional Intern through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Ayo reflected on the dissonance between lawmakers and the communities they are working to positively impact. When asked about the value of his academic and professional overlaps in civic studies, Ayo said, “I just always thought it was really important for people who plan to go into any type of work that directly affects the community—whether it’s politics, policy, or law—to remember what it’s like to be in your community.” Ayo currently serves as a Tisch Scholar with Building Audacity, spending Saturday mornings volunteering to organize meals which student drivers deliver to families in surrounding communities.
But that’s not all: engaging with his theater background and love for expression, Ayo can also be found in the costume shop in Aidekman or performing spoken-word poetry at open mics on campus. He recounted how in high school his opinion of poetry as outdated shifted after coming across a video of spoken word poet Rudy Francisco. “This was different. He looked like me, he was young, active, and talking about my community and things that pertained to me.” Ayo was deeply inspired and soon was writing his own poetry. In fact, Ayo was selected to perform his poem “I wish for a rose in a garden” for the Student Voices Award on Tufts’ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Celebration. “It’s about success stories and how we focus so much on success stories without examining why should somebody have to succeed from those circumstances in the first place?” Further, he starred in the student-written show Almanac: The Musical and was the Assistant Costume Designer in The Interrobangers. Ayo explained that his parents immigrated from Nigeria, where his mom had attended fashion school. “My mom was kind of a seamstress…She owns her own business in Columbus, so she would always make dresses—prom dresses, wedding dresses, all types—so I grew up sewing and had always been around clothes and designs my whole life.”
Ayo’s advice for prospective students is simple and encouraging: “I think it’s important to remember that nobody can do it quite like you. So try your best not to compare yourself to people. Just make yourself happy.”
