PeacePlayers 2023 Impact Report 5 18 (5) - Flipbook - Page 51
Onyeka: I am a first generation Nigerian American, born and raised in Silver Spring,
Maryland. Currently, I am a Junior at the University of Maryland, studying sociology
and public policy with a focus on nonprofit leadership and social innovation. I grew up
playing basketball, first and foremost. I actually participated in the first [PeacePlayers]
United States Leadership Development Program. We were coached in basketball and
leadership skills, and ended up culminating that experience with a trip to the Middle
East. So traveling to the Middle East, and just finding out how global this movement is,
and how sport can change people’s lives, that’s really what brought me to where I am
today. More recently, I was a youth development coach and then an Up2Us coach [at
PeacePlayers Baltimore], and then from there I did the PeacePlayers Fellowship. And
