The best friendships make you burst into laughter for no apparent reason. They also give you a safe space to be real and lean on one another.

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Marvellous (John D. O’Bryant School), Gabe (Boston Latin Academy), and Ahmed (Boston College High School) have been close since they joined Steppingstone several years ago. First meeting at orientation and at the bus stop, they bonded over their Nigerian culture, love of sports, and infectious sense of humor. They’ve counted on each other for everything, from haircut feedback to academic support (even a nudge to take full advantage of Steppingstone). 

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As Ahmed’s graduation approaches this spring, the BFFs sat down with Makeda Daniel ’09, Manager of Alumni Relations, an Alumna herself and their former Steppingstone Advisor, to look ahead to the next chapter of their friendship in college, knowing that no matter the distance, they will always be able to count on one another.

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This is a story of community and connection presented by Steppingstone's Day of Giving.

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^{Video Transcript}

Marvellous Bamidele

My name is Marvellous Bamidele. I’m in 11th grade, and I go to the John D. O'Bryant School of Math and Science.

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Gabriel Ugogi

And my name is Gabriel Ugogi. I’m a junior at Boston Latin Academy.

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Ahmed Omo

My name is Ahmed Omo. I'm a senior and I go to Boston College High School.

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Steppingstone's Day of Giving presents: A Scholar BFF Story

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Makeda Daniel ’09

So we're going to kick off the interview with our first question. Before I begin, do either of you...[Laughter] What's so funny? What is so funny?

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Ahmed Omo

I don't know. I just saw Marvellous laughing. So I just started laughing.

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Gabriel Ugogi

Me too, me too!

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_{What brought you together?}

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Marvellous Bamidele

The first day I met Gabe was at orientation. And ever since then, we have been close. Ahmed, the first day I met Ahmed, it was summer. First day of Steppingstone. We were at the same bus stop. We talked to each other. We had a connection.

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Gabriel Ugogi

You know, Ahmed used to be tiny.

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Marvellous Bamidele

Yeah.

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[Laughter]

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Makeda Daniel ’09

Well, you guys were really young! It was like, six years ago.

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Gabriel Ugogi

I think what brought all three of us together was our culture. We’re all Nigerian men who have similar culture, food that we all like... We all like basketball. We played basketball against each other so many times.

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Ahmed Omo

The culture piece was a big part... I feel like that just connected us. It felt like we already knew each other, in a sense.

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Gabriel Ugogi

I think also, one other thing... me and Ahmed, we both play volleyball, which is really cool because we’re both Black playing volleyball and there aren’t a lot of Black people playing volleyball. So that brought us really close.

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What do you appreciate about this friendship?

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Marvellous Bamidele

The humor. I like the humor a lot because every day, it's always smiles and laughter, whenever we're all around.

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Ahmed Omo

When you can just laugh with someone, I feel like you're just close. Maybe we might butt heads, but it's always a joke. It's a troll. We get over it, you know, laugh it off. Just stuff like that.

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Gabriel Ugogi

But yeah, one quality is honesty. For me and Marvellous, whenever I get a haircut or anything, I always send a video of my haircut to Marvellous. And he’ll give me a truthful answer, like, "Hey, this cut is really good," or "Hey, this cut is horrible."

[Laughter]

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How has your friendship impacted you?

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Marvellous Bamidele

The impact is... it's a really great impact on my life, especially because these guys are like my brothers at this in a way. Like, every time I see them, we're that close to call each other brothers or say, cousins, cause we all, Nigerians always do. And also the fact that every time, even if I'm in a bad mood, every time I see them, they always uplift me and it makes me... it makes my day better.

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Gabriel Ugogi

So I just think it's the connections and the opportunities. Like, I think through Marvellous and Ahmed, I've met a lot of other people.

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Ahmed Omo

They're just there to... to uplift me, you know, bring me joy. I can have fun around them. And then on the aspect of more so, like, academics, they're motivating, you know. Even though I'm the senior, they still give me tips and I give them tips too, as well. So I just feel like, it's just a brotherly bond, like they both said.

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How will you stay in touch during college?

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Gabriel Ugogi

I know Ahmed’s going to Bucknell. That’s in Philly, right?

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Ahmed Omo

Yeah.

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Gabriel Ugogi

Yeah. Philly. And then, me and Marvellous potentially not going to the same college has... it's been a little bit scary. Like, us being really far away from each other. We just know that... we've always got each other. We can always just call one another and know that we're safe, we're chill, we're doing good. And yeah, that's really it.

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Gabriel Ugogi

We went to Brown and Providence College a couple of months ago in the fall. It was a lot of laughs, we ate food at the Providence College Dining Hall, which was amazing. It made us all full.

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What advice do you have for younger Scholars?

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Ahmed Omo

Yeah, I’d say Steppingstone... Please, use it. Steppingstone is a great place. I was drifting away from Steppingstone a little bit during that COVID era, a little bit after... I stopped keeping in touch with my Advisor and then, you know, Marvellous was telling me, "yo, look at all these cool opportunities. Keep in touch with your Advisor."

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So I started talking to Mr. Arias a lot, built a great connection. And then he actually recommended me for the Posse Scholarship, which is a full-tuition scholarship. And then through that process, he was guiding me and helping me. And I'm happy to say now that I've got that, and that's how I'm attending Bucknell University. So I'll just say... just stay in contact with Steppingstone. It's a great institution. They do it all for free. They help you. It's like, what more can you expect? You know? And I just... I'm just forever thankful.

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Any closing thoughts?

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Gabriel Ugogi

Yeah, one more thing. So, I know this is going to the Instagram. I just hope that this finds the right people, just, like, the friends I haven't seen in so long. I hope that this just reaches you and we’ll be connecting one last time. Just text me. You'll see my like on Instagram.

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Marvellous Bamidele

Yeah, me too. So if you really like me—or you didn't like me much at Steppingstone, just hit up and probably talk a little. And then after that, who knows where to go from there? We probably can be friends.

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Ahmed Omo

Yeah, me and my friends still talk about it all the time. Like, just looking back on the memories. We just, we want to go back. You know what I mean? Even if it's for one more day. We just like the community. Like, we just want to go back and see our class, you know, from hopping off the bus at Milton Academy and waiting on the field, like, just running around until they let us in. Yeah. You know, one more time. Fun experience.

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Makeda Daniel ’09

Yeah, That time goes by fast, doesn’t it?

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Ahmed Omo

Yeah.

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Makeda Daniel ’09

Super fast. Next thing you know, you'll be 15 years out and interviewing other Scholars. [Laughter]

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Ahmed Omo

Yeah.

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Makeda Daniel ’09

But thank you all so much. You know, it's been a pleasure getting to know more about your stories. And I've seen you all since you were in Academy, so it's really beautiful to see you all, you know, become such incredible students and mentors to others. We’re excited to get this story out and hopefully inspire others to want to reconnect with Steppingstone. Because Ahmed, like you said, it does make a difference.

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Learn more about Steppingstone’s fourth annual Day of Giving on 3.28.24.

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