Daniel Adesina is a senior at North, a future Emory student and the founder of the Black Student Union (BSU). With the help of the counselors here at North, especially Kaitlin Mason, Adesina applied to QuestBridge, a non-profit organization that allows students to apply to 12 of the top schools in the country. 

“When I got into Emory, I was really excited because they [gave me] a full ride,” said Adesina. “The counselor’s here, they’re amazing. After they heard the news about me getting into Emory, they gave me some cake. We celebrated and ate lunch together.”

Adesina has always dreamt of attending a school like Emory but never thought he had a chance until QuestBridge. “It’s amazing because Emory, I feel, is one of the top schools in Georgia, and before QuestBridge, I didn’t think I could possibly get in. QuestBridge let that happen. [It] gives students like me, first-generation students, an opportunity to go to some of the top universities in America.” 

In the future, if you ever need a brain surgeon, Adesina is your guy. His sophomore year, he took AP Psychology and fell in love with the brain. “Once I learned about it, the mind itself, not even modern techniques…the ancient ways of what they thought about the mind, I thought that was really great. Dr. Houston has been a great influence on that. She was so passionate…and inspired me to learn more about the mind. She also joined me in my mindfulness research. I just fell in love with that and neurology which is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

One unique attribute about Adesina is that he is always leaving things better than he found them. As it is his last year here at North, he decided to leave his mark on the community by founding the BSU. “The voice of the Union really was just my way of giving back to the people. The Black Student Union is a cultural-based club where anyone [can join]. It doesn’t really matter your ethnicity. We just expose everyone in the community in general to black culture. We do have a mix of ethnicities who join us.”

The BSU is open to everyone. They hold meetings in Joshua Montesino’s room (503) and discuss black culture-related topics. “Usually we’ll start the meeting by just introducing everybody. We just talk about whatever subject we have for that day. That could be about a topic of someone from black history or even an experience we’ve had in the community.” 

Looking back at the last four years of his life, Adesina learned “throughout high school to be passionate in what you do and do things only for the love of them.” If he could tell his freshman self one thing, it would be “keep going; there’s no reason to stop.”

All in all, Daniel Adesina is a perfect example of the raider motto: Pride, Passion, Purpose. He highlights the best of North and will be a great representation of North at Emory.