No. 3 Precious Ojo--Girl in STEM: My Journey as a Nigerian Student and Innovator

Welcome to HER Network's blog "Share Your Journey", and today we're featuring Precious Ojo. We want to thank Precious for taking the time to share her inspiring journey with us. If you're a STEM girl, read to the end!!! Precious's journey is definitely inspiring, and she left some truly valuable advice to other STEM girls.

Precious Ojo

Hi, my name is Precious Ojo, a gap year student, STEMinist, researcher, and changemaker from Nigeria. For me, STEM was never about grades (though I did care to some extent); it was more about satisfying my curiosity. Asking why, testing what if, and using it to create and build. My journey hasn’t been linear, which I am grateful for, but every step—whether in research labs, classrooms, or community projects—has shaped me.

In Nigeria, “science class” was seen as the path to success for most students. At first, I was one of those students. But as I dove into subjects like mathematics and biology, I realized I wasn’t there just because it was the “right” thing to do. I loved the way math sharpened my problem-solving and how biology unlocked the mysteries of life. Those subjects allowed me to explore the world beyond what I knew.

Still, my school (like many in Nigeria) leaned heavily on theory. With limited lab equipment, hands-on learning was rare. That frustrated me, but also pushed me to seek opportunities outside the classroom. One of the most transformative was Technovation Girls.

When I joined Technovation with my friends, none of us knew how to code. All we had was our basic computer science class, which was mostly theory. But with grit and teamwork, we built an app about Plastic Recycling and made it to the quarterfinals of the competition. That experience was life-changing. For the first time, I realized that even without perfect resources, girls like me could innovate, build, and compete globally.

After that, I became a Technovation Student Ambassador, launching the program in my state. I visited over 20 schools, introducing girls to coding, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving. Watching their eyes light up when they realized they could be creators of technology became one of the proudest moments of my STEM journey. To this day, I see Technovation as a cornerstone of my growth; it didn’t just teach me coding, it taught me confidence.

I didn’t stop there. During the Athena Fellowship for Girls (now Summit STEM Fellowship), I was inspired by researchers who were making a real impact. Research felt like a distant dream for high school students in Nigeria, but I decided to try anyway. I cold-emailed professors at nearby universities until one said yes. That’s how I started my research internship at Drosophila Research Laboratory, University of Ibadan, where I was surrounded by PhD and master’s students. I felt like an outsider at first—struggling to use equipment, asking endless questions—but I persevered. That persistence became my stepping stone to the Next Nobel Research Scholarship, where I now research how microplastics may affect female reproductive health.

Beyond the lab, I expanded my STEM journey into policy and advocacy. At the Perrin Institute for Human-Centered AI, University of Virginia, I’ve worked as a health policy correspondent, writing about global health policies. Through the curaJOY Impact Fellowship, I am collaborating on AI projects aimed at addressing cyberbullying and promoting youth digital well-being. Outside STEM, I co-founded Young Nigerian Changemakers, a youth movement activating young people to tackle the Sustainable Development Goals, and I became a Yale Young African Scholar. These experiences taught me that STEM isn’t just science or technology; it’s about people, impact, and building a better future.

Through it all, these core values have guided me:

• Proactiveness: Don’t wait, start. If I hadn’t sent those cold emails, I wouldn’t be in research today. Opportunities rarely walk up to you; most times, you have to build the door yourself.

• Systems Thinking: Always connect the dots. STEM taught me that nothing exists in isolation. Microplastics aren’t just an environmental problem; they affect health, policy, and society. Seeing the bigger picture helps us create lasting solutions.

• Black Box Thinking: Failure is feedback. Every failed experiment, every coding error, every draft that didn’t make sense was data. Treat mistakes not as dead ends but as stepping stones.

• Stepping Out of Comfort Zones: Growth happens in discomfort. From coding without prior knowledge in Technovation to working in labs with PhD students, my biggest leaps happened when I felt most unprepared.

  
  

And one more lesson: be a thermostat, not a thermometer. A thermometer only reflects the environment; it fluctuates depending on its surroundings. But a thermostat sets the temperature; it defines the environment. That’s what STEM empowers us to do. It gives us tools not just to describe the world, but to reshape it. Whether it’s designing technology to solve community problems, researching health threats like microplastics, or mentoring other girls, STEM allows us to set the tone for the future.

If you’re reading this and dreaming of a STEM path, I want you to know this: you don’t need perfect resources to start. I didn’t. What I had were mentors who believed in me, a network of supportive peers, and the courage to try. Seek guidance, embrace challenges, and create opportunities even when they don’t exist yet.

STEM has given me more than knowledge; it has given me voice, purpose, and community. And I believe that the future of STEM will be rewritten by girls like us who dare to begin anyway.

Thank you for reading! If you want to connect with Precious, feel free to contact her through Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-ojo-6bb42928b/