Cohort IV

Ayomide Adesioye is from Richton Park, IL, and attended Southland College Prep High School. While in High School, Ayomide was a Safelight Teen Ambassador and ran Track and Field. He volunteered at the Richton Park Recreation Center and at Matteson Elementary School for Real Men Read. In his free time, Ayomide enjoys listening to music and working out. At UIC, he is currently majoring in Computer Science and Design and plans to pick a career in the computer science field.

Hello! My name is Gabi Pride, I’m from East Alton, IL. My freshman year I went to South Roxana Highschool and then transferred to Illinois Mathematical and Science Academy (IMSA) my sophomore year. While at IMSA I was one of the Assistant Managers for the yearbook and participated in a research project for a neglected tropical disease. Hobbies of mine are watching anime, photography, art and research. My major is Pre-Health/Pre-science, and I plan to go into pharmaceutical science.

Nava Owens is a Thornwood High School Alumni who plans to major in Neuroscience at UIC. Her interests include fashion, social media marketing, dance, and volunteering. Nava has maintained being on the Distinguished honor roll for most of her academic career and plans to advance in the medical field to later become a neuroscientist or surgeon. Not being familiar enough with the Chicago area, Nava also plans to immerse herself in the UIC Chicago culture.

Hi! name is Renard Singleton, I am from Dolton, IL and graduated from Thornridge high school. I’m majoring in mechanical engineering  with plans of doing anything with building/designing machines in the future. I was apart of robotics club as well as scholastic bowl and the chess team where I played in the top 3 boards. I enjoy being active, hanging with friends, and being in nature.

Timothy Nana Kodua Agyeman Jones is from Plainfield, IL, and attended Oswego East High School. During his high school career, Timothy played basketball, ran varsity track and field, was a member of the National Honors Society(NHS), was a member of the National English Honors Society (NEHS), and wrote for the DuPage County NAACP Newsletter as a coordinator and an interviewer. In his free time, Tim enjoys playing video games, working out, cooking, and reading. Timothy is now a first-year undergraduate student at UIC majoring in biochemistry. Timothy’s professional goal is to attend medical school and go into orthopedics.

My name is Yusuf Seward and I’m from Atlanta, GA. I was homeschooled my entire life. My major is computer engineering.

I currently work for a nonprofit called The Hidden Genius Project as an educator where I spent 1.5 years teaching high schoolers about web development, leadership skills, and entrerprenuership.

While I was homeschooled, I competed in FIRST robotics for two years, built drones and did drone racing as both an esports pilot and in real life. I won one of the largest esports leagues in the world for drone racing in 2022. I also interned at various After School Matters programs, joining programs from video production to coding. I also interned at a data science program hosted jointly by UChicago’s Data Science Institute and Argonne National Labs in 2023.

My future goals are to be a startup founder in deeptech and to go to graduate school for computer engineering with a specialization in AI hardware and quantum computing applications.

My hobbies are 3D printing, jiu-jitsu, drone flying, building software, and Formula 1.

Michelle Charles is biological science major from South Holland, Illinois, who graduated from Marian Catholic High School. She participated in extracurricular activities including varsity volleyball, National and Spanish Honors Society, and Treasurer for Helping Hands Club. She is an active volunteer for Caring Hands Initiative Inc, a non-profit organization, stationed in Imo State Nigeria, aiming to help needs of women and children. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, playing volleyball, and working out. Her dream career is to be a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

Kennedy Hamilton is from Homewood, Illinois. She attended Homewood- Flossmoor High School. While she was in High School, she was in band, track and field, soccer, robotics club, and NHS. She is pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Kennedy has plans in the future to do research and possibly go to into the medical school. Kennedy loves to try new things, spend time with her family, and watch movies.

Julisa Tomlinson is from Bolingbrook IL. She graduated from Bolingbrook High school where she was involved in the National Honor Society as Secretary, International culture club, Chess club, and Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society. She spends her free time listening to music, working out, playing piano, gymnastics, badminton, and volunteering. Her past achievements include ranking top 2% of her graduating class, recognition as an Illinois State Scholar, and volunteer of the year award from the Bolingbrook fire department with over 150 service hours. At UIC, Julisa majors in Biochemistry on the Pre-Med track and is aspiring to be an Anesthesiologist.

Levell is from Lynwood, IL and attended Lake Central High School. He is majoring in Computer Science with a concentration on Software Engineering. Some of his favorite hobbies include fishing, hanging with friends, weightlifting, and playing video games! Throughout his high school career, Levell was a part of the National Honors Society in which he accumulated 100+ community service hours. He also was nominated to be a part of his school principal’s Advisory Board as 1 of 2 senior students selected. He graduated Cum Laude and as an AP Scholar. In the future, Levell hopes to become a software developer, while also taking up game development in his personal life. He also wants to do research at the intersection of the topics of technology and diversity.