Eniola Olubunmi is named 2023 recipient of the Saeeda Peermahomed Award
Eniola Olubunmi, a third-year Accounting Major with a Certificate in Legal Studies in the Terry College of Business is this year’s Saeeda Peermahomed Award recipient. The award is given annually by International Student Life to recognize outstanding international students.
Eniola has been an international student all of her life. She attended primary school in the United Kingdom, secondary school in Nigeria, and now college in the United States. Eniola currently is involved in the Terry College of business as a Terry Ambassador. Terry College Ambassadors promote pride and diversity within the Terry College and demonstrate their leadership abilities and promote opportunities within Terry. She was selected as one of 40 students to represent Terry College of Business to donors, alumni, and students. Eniola is also an Honors Teaching Assistant within the Morehead Honors College. In this role, she serves as a peer mentor to incoming honors students. In this important role, Eniola introduces the students to resources and opportunities available through the Honors college. In this position, Eniola also prepares and teaches a lesson plan to a class of 12 students each week. Along with this, Eniola is a Foundation Fellow, Deer Run Fellow, EY Terry Diversity Fellow, Palladia Women’s Honor Society member, and a Blue Key Honor Society member.
In International Student Life, Eniola always knew she wanted to be active within ISL, from attending International Student Orientation as an incoming freshman. Eniola has been a member of the International Student Advisory Board since April 2021. As a member of this board she advocates and provides innovative ideas for the 2,000+ international students at the University of Georgia. She serves as a resource to incoming and currently enrolled international students and also serves as an ambassador in communicating the concerns and wishes of international students to the department and university administration. Eniola is also a Language Labs instructor in the International Student Life Office. She enjoys having the opportunity to help other international students learn more about America and hopefully help to provide them with the knowledge and skills needed to develop a sense of belonging in a new environment.
Olubunmi stated, “I am extremely grateful to be selected as this year’s award recipient and feel honored to be among the outstanding students helping to internationalize UGA’s campus. This award motivates me to continue serving and making a positive impact in the global community. Thank you.”
Linden Dudley, Director for International Student Life said that Eniola is well deserving of this award.
“The selection committee was impressed by her involvement on campus and felt that it showed a true passion for helping others and improving the experience for all international students at UGA. Eniola’s accomplishments epitomizes what we hope for all of our students,” said Dudley.
This year’s selection committee was comprised of Dr. Michele Howard, Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Dan Silk, UGA’s Chief of Police, and Jennifer Beasley, Immigration Services International Student and Scholar Advisor.
The award is made possible by the Peermahomed Family and is given in memory of Saeeda Peermahomed. Saeeda was a University of Georgia student from India who was studying to obtain a master’s degree in journalism when she was killed in a tragic automobile accident in North Georgia in 1979. Saeeda was an outstanding international student who was active in international student organizations and promoted cross-cultural exchange. This award is given in Saeeda’s memory to honor the goals of inter-cultural exchange for which she stood.
Each year, all currently enrolled UGA international students are eligible to apply as long as they have a current GPA of 3.5 or better. Application details are made available in early February each year at isl.uga.edu.
International Student Life is one of the 19 departments within the Division of Student Affairs, and focuses its work on supporting UGA’s 2,700+ international students while also creating unique and educational opportunities for all UGA students to build skills related to intercultural competencies and cross-cultural understanding.