Great Grads: Bordetta Chamgbe

Chamgbe Chases Medical Dreams After Immigrating from Liberia

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For Bordetta Chamgbe, who will earn her degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry in May, living in one of the big American cities she saw in movies she watched as a child in her home country of Liberia was a distant dream.

But when she was 10 years old, that dream became a reality. Her father, who worked for the American Embassy in Liberia for more than 25 years, was offered the opportunity to relocate to Durham, N.C.

“I was astonished to find out that my family and I were moving to the U.S.,” she said. “America had always been my dream country, from the beautiful skyscrapers in movies to the unique culture and style. Transitioning from Liberia to Durham, N.C., was hard at first. I felt like I did not fit in. Academic struggles in high school were tough. Math was my weakest subject, and I feared I would never understand it. I thought I wasn’t as smart as my peers, so I started giving up on schoolwork and my dreams.”

That dream was to be a medical doctor or physician assistant, careers where mathematics are used on a daily basis. Her struggles in the classroom were relentless.

But just as she felt like giving up, fate intervened. As she went to her high school’s library to return her books, she stumbled across a college fair where she met an admissions counselor from Johnson C. Smith University.

“I decided to kill some time with him because I wasn’t interested in going to my fourth period class,” she said. “Prior to meeting him, I had no intention of going to college. He was very persuasive and, by three minutes into our conversation, he sold me and I applied to JCSU.”

Chamgbe was accepted and began her collegiate journey at JCSU. Thanks to professors and classmates, she was able to focus on her schoolwork. Over the past four-and-a-half years, Chamgbe has won multiple leadership and academic awards and has become a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society and the North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.

Her dedication in the classroom at JCSU has led her to pursing further education in the biomedical field at Northwestern University after she crosses the stage and receives her undergraduate degree.

She said JCSU has taught her to manage her time and that, with hard work and dedication and the help from professors like Dr. Laurie Porter, she’s learned that she can do anything she sets her mind to.

Chamgbe is looking forward to taking the summer off to relax and spend time with her family while preparing for her next chapter in graduate school.