# Undergraduate Admission

**Source**: https://admission.brown.edu/student-profiles/chiamaka-odenigbo
**Parent**: https://admission.brown.edu/explore/student-voices

Undergraduate Admission

# Chiamaka Odenigbo

Student Profiles

### Class of 2024 | New Rochelle, New York | Mechanical Engineering

*Chiamaka is a captain of the Brown University women’s track and field team who competes in both the triple jump and the heptathlon. Chiamaka is a tour guide and a student admission representative with the Office of College Admission.*

**I picked Brown because I wanted a place that would maximize my happiness**. I knew that studying engineering and being a student athlete would be stressful, but the social environment here is unmatched. Brown has a culture of kindness that’s collaborative, not competitive.

**Being a captain of track and field** pushes me outside of my comfort zone in many ways. I’m fairly timid, but as captain I have to use my voice, direct people, communicate information to and from the coaches, speak at big team meetings, and be aware of much more than just myself.

**I loved the first-year seminar Belonging and Displacement: Cross-Cultural Identities**. I moved around quite a bit growing up and have definitely struggled with belonging. I think the class attracted students from complex backgrounds who shared similar struggles. It was really validating and eye-opening to learn about our shared experiences that manifested in supremely different ways.

**I’m in Barus and Holley (the building that houses the School of Engineering) all day, every day**. I love its versatility. It has different conference rooms and open spaces where you can study. I like the versatility of the labs and the Brown Design Workshop. The wellness room is available to you if you ever need a moment to yourself, and it even has stress toys and meditation techniques posted on the wall. You can chill out, or even take a nap.

**I’d really like to pursue a career that explores when engineering goes wrong** and materials fail — like bridges collapsing or columns breaking during construction — and focus on mitigating those sorts of risks.

**One of my favorite parts of engineering is the human factor**. You need to understand the STEM concepts and have the technical and software skills, but every project you create serves humans with a different set of needs that you must understand. I like that it’s interdisciplinary and requires more than one branch of knowledge.