Becoming Glory

"I just want to do something big"

Glory Egwuonwu Amadi '18 — AY-gwon-wu ah-MAH-dee — has long known she was smart. She speaks three languages and completed 55 college credits while in high school in Brooklyn. But like many teens, she also was bullied and felt insecure. She was quiet when it came to speaking up for who she truly was, and she drew her sense of herself from the people around her.

Just two years later, she has transformed into a confident young woman whose goals are growing ever bigger. She plans to pursue a law degree and a master's in communications. But don't pigeonhole this double major in legal studies and Chinese into a law career. She's interested in TV, film, and media — and in having an impact.

Glory Egwuonwu Amadi

Glory Egwuonwu Amadi '18

"I just want to do something big," she says. She sees herself as a disruptor. She's passionate about helping others appreciate and realize their potential and not be limited by the boxes others try to put them into. "I want to break the box."

What helped her transform: study abroad, multiple mentors — and TED Talks.

Study abroad in China

Five months at Nazareth partner Shangdong Normal University in Jinan, China, expanded how Glory sees herself, the United States, and the world. "I grew so much in the span of studying abroad. It's like the manifestation of Glory."

She realized that people in the United States argue about politics rather than listening to each other and that she should ask more questions.

"We're not a melting pot," she says. "We're just like a delicious soup. We just add our own unique flavors. We don't want to melt because we lose ourselves."

Glory and another student in China regularly talked about their lives and shared advice as they walked through the small city to a local cafe to do homework. Glory gained an appreciation of her own beauty and helped her new friend see that she's so knowledgeable — more than people realize. The friend, who is Chinese-American and attending college in the United States, helped Glory improve her Chinese.

"It was a great bonding relationship. It taught me to be a better person. In the past, I might not have thought of being friends with people who seem very different or who have different views," says Glory. "You realize we're almost the same people."

Multiple mentors

Nazareth faculty have a reputation for their relentless support of students, and Glory's are no different. But in addition to her professors, Glory says she has also been supported and pushed by multiple college staff members:

  • The director of Nazareth's Young Scholars program — which Glory is part of — continues to check with her about how she's doing.
  • An assistant director in the study abroad office provided help before dawn when Glory became ill in China.
  • Her supervisor and colleagues at her campus job at the Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue helped her develop a level-headed feeling about spirituality and to see beyond the things that people in the world argue about.
  • The former director of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion has shared sound advice and wisdom.
  • A college vice president has been a "networking superhero" and a friend.

She's also found wisdom from video speeches online. "I love TED Talks so much." The popular series — which started with a focus on Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) and expanded to all kinds of knowledge from inspired thinkers — feel like an additional community of people who help Glory think through her thoughts.

One she recently liked was by Shonda Rhimes, the writer and executive producer behind "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How to Get Away With Murder." Rhimes speaks about the wonderful hum of creating, building, and collaborating when she's immersed in her work — until she got burned out. She rediscovered the hum after regularly saying yes when her children wanted to play. Rhimes learned the real hum isn't work-specific but is an electricity that comes from being excited by life.

"That video resonated with me," says Glory. "I feel the hum whenever I get passionate about something. You can hear it in my voice. Nothing can stop me — until something new comes in."

What's Next

Twenty years from now, she'd like to see that she's had an impact. "I see a lot of things wrong in world that I'd like to change," Glory says. For now she loves the ongoing adrenaline and electricity of knowing new things. "Learning is so powerful," she says. All of it contributes to the person she is becoming. "The manifestation of me: it's constantly changing and growing."

  • Double major: legal studies and Chinese 
  • Minor: economics
  • Speaks three languages: Chinese (simplified), English, and Igbo (EE-bo), a native language in southeastern Nigeria

Activities/involvement at Naz

Jobs

  • Resident assistant in Medaille Hall
  • Office for Diversity and Inclusion
  • Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies & Dialogue