RICHMOND, Va. – Jimon Boadi is a twenty-year-old rising senior at Virginia Commonwealth University with an infectious personality aimed directly towards making others smile. He is equipped with a hysterical comedic humor that leaves a mark on any one he meets. Although he has faced obstacles, Boadi has taught others it’s okay to follow a path that they didn’t plan, because it planned you.
Boadi started his academic journey in community college system , attending Southside Virginia Community College on track to graduate with a degree in Homeland Security. With this degree he understood the many benefits economically that potentially benefit his family finically and therefore pay off in the long run.
“This major was not really what I wanted to do, but I planned a great deal of my life around it. I have always wanted to be able to take care of my mother and grandfather who have done utmost everything for me. I just cannot fail them,“ Boadi said.
Through his freshmen year in community college, Boadi struggled to find his own path and to connect it with his true passion, which he found in his down time. Often, he would focus more on the thing he truly loved – creating conceptual video content. Along with his abstract taste, he found his calling alongside his old high school friends creating YouTube videos. But little did he know, just one spark of his passion would change his whole outlook and degree plan. He could never fail his family doing something he loved.
Photo Credit: Anna Lyon
“I always loved creating content, and coming up with crazy ideas since I was a 7-year-old. I was able to visually display the ideas that were in my head into writing, and I learned the art form of conceptual video development as I got older. Advisement story telling is where I found my happiness.,” Boadi said.
As freshman year of community college came to an end, the final time for Boadi to ever to walk the halls of Southside Virginia Community College grew near. Now a sophomore, Boadi, began to build his summer schedule and look for colleges, but with graduation right around the corner, he still had not applied anywhere.”
“Sophomore year was probably my hardest year. I had no idea what college I wanted to go, no money, and when when II started to look more into homeland security programs, my heart was not in it. Then, I started to look back at all the creative things I had done and I wanted to finish them because that is what I truly wanted to do.,” Boadi stated.
With the time slowly ticking by, losing faith and giving up was certainly an option to Boadi. But, with endless pep talks, and meetings with his favorite advisor at his community college Mrs. Talbott refused to give up him and continued to encourage him. Additionally, with the help of another creative visionary, Andre Harrell whom a is also transfer student from Southside Community college to VCU studying Creative Advertising in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture.
“Seeing Jimon lose faith, when I know he isn’t a person to give up, literally made me try my hardest to explain to him that he does not have to [give up]. Jimon has always been the person to see the bigger picture and he needed a push for the first time, so I pushed him.,” Andre Harrell stated.
Harrell also added, “I have been friends with Jimon for such a long time and I know that he has talent, so if anything, I wanted to just shake him and tell him it’s going to be okay. We’re going to end our time at VCU together and find our calling.”
In the summer of 2017, Boadi tried his luck and applied to VCU with a degree in Creative Advertising in The School of Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture, instead of homeland security.
“Once I made the choice to just apply and stop focusing on what I tried to control and plan, everything in my life took a turn. I had to get out of the rut I was in. All my friends knew where they were going and here I was still trying to figure it out,” said Boadi.
He added, “The letter of admission took a dreaded five or six weeks, but once the letter came in the mail, all the stress that was around me sort of vanished because I got in!”
With everything falling into place, Boadi hit a major road block as the next letter to come was his financial aid package that could have forced him to give up entirely. Being able to afford college, for many students, is a ongoing hardship. Like many other students, Boadi fell into the category of not having enough money to pay for his semester and asking his family for money was something he knew he could not do. Little did he know, his plan was not over entirely. A heart-to-heart conversation with his grandfather and mom ended on the note that Boadi’s dream of going to school was not going to be impossible, as they were willing to get him where he wanted to go.
Moving forward to 2018, Boadi is now winding down his junior year at VCU and is looking forward to senior year. As finals are over and summer is here, he reflects on his time and is grateful for the advice from his strong willed mother, loving grandfather, Mrs. Talbott and his best friend Andre Harrell, as they turn their ideas into reality here at VCU’s Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture.
Photo Credit: Sam Galipeau
“I strongly believe now, that in life when choosing a career path, you have to believe that anything can happen. I don’t know where my creativity will lead me, but the point is, if you feel passionate about something do not fight it and put something else in place of it, you can make it. The coolest thing about creative advertising is that I am now on a path where I am happy.” – Jimon Boadi