Ebube Obi-Okoye applied to Notre Dame after learning about the University’s Catholic identity and academic rigor. Obi-Okoye grew up mostly in Nigeria and moved to the United States in 2016. She attended mostly Catholic schools growing up and wanted a similar educational experience in college.
Obi-Okoye is a practicing Catholic who enjoys attending Mass weekly, either in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart or on Sunday nights in her dorm Lyons Hall. She has also joined a campus program called Compass Small Groups. Groups of students meet weekly to share, reflect, pray, and “discern where God is moving in their lives.”
“You meet once a week…and talk about what’s going on and what’s happening in your faith journey,” which Obi-Okoye says she has really enjoyed.
In her college search, Obi-Okoye also looked for a school that would challenge her academically and offer her the resources and opportunities to study what she loves.
At Notre Dame, she is considering a finance or marketing major and is thinking about adding on a supplementary major in global affairs.
Obi-Okoye is entrepreneurial. During her high school years, she developed a business selling handmade and thrifted clothing to her followers on Instagram. Her mother taught her to sew and crochet when she was younger and the focus of the business was sustainable fashion.
The experience of running her own small business has led Obi-Okoye to consider a business major in college, though she isn’t sure exactly which yet.
“I really enjoyed running my own business and I just felt like I wanted to do something in the business area,” she says. She is still discerning, taking a variety of business courses and enjoying them all so far.
Asked what her favorite class from her first semester was, Obi-Okoye points to two: her Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric class and her Foundations in Theology class.
The writing and rhetoric class focused on representations of science across various forms of media and the theology course offered an introduction to theology through various texts. Both courses were small and discussion-based, making it easy for students to form relationships with one another and their professors as they discussed the topics at hand.
“I think my favorite part [was] that everyone was always asking really interesting questions and I [learn] a lot from that,” says Obi-Okoye.
She’s looking forward to the rest of her studies, including possible study abroad either in the United Kingdom or Korea.
Check out the video above to learn more about Obi-Okoye’s first-year experience.
Learn More
- Learn about the finance major at Notre Dame.
- Check out the previous First-Year Journey: Matthew Ruff '25 Finds Community, Explores Global Affairs at Notre Dame.
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