The Bud and Mary Mansfield Parent of the Year Award is an annual recognition presented by the Alumni Association during Great Lake State Weekend. LSSU students have the opportunity to nominate their parents for this honor, and a committee carefully reviews each nomination to select the award recipient(s).
This year, the Mansfield Parent of the Year Award was presented to Ese Osumili, who was nominated by her daughter, Uwaoma Osumili. Uwaoma, a junior studying nursing at LSSU, shared the profound impact her mother had on their lives. “My mother gave up her 30s to re-learn how to live life in an entirely new country, including going back to school to earn her physical therapy assistant license,” Uwaoma wrote. “She spent those years retraining me and my two younger sisters—alone—to prioritize the important things in life, like faith in God and a strong education. My mother is my hero. In a world where many live for themselves, she lives for her children.“
In addition to receiving the Parent of the Year award, Ese is currently attending LSSU to pursue a nursing degree.