“It feels like a calling. I am here to spread a certain message to the world, through music. A message of love and peace. I want to bring that safe space and joy to the people. I also believe in God and feel like that’s what God put me to do, to bring a bit more love to the world,” – Helms Ategeka

(A follow-up story)

Eighteen-Year-Old Helms Ategeka, a Ugandan migrant student based in Oakland California, who was accepted by over 122 United States’ Universities and Colleges walks this publication through his application Journey and career aspiration.

Ategeka, who went to join his father in the United States of America in 2019, shortly before the Covid 19 pandemic, went through most of his US high school on zoom, and managed to score a GPA of 3.94 out of the possible 4.00, where he applied to over 150 Universities and was accepted by 122.

He narrates his journey.

“The process of applying to all these schools was quite challenging because it’s a lot of schools, so the way I did it, I used to apply school by school, day by day. Some schools have like a Common App system which helps you to apply to like twenty schools at once. You just slightly change the essays to fit the specifics of certain schools,” Mr Ategeka said.

He further revealed his efforts towards making sure he was applying to get accepted and not to just throw the application letters and forget.

“For each of the schools I was very invested and I wanted to make sure I put my best foot forward and gave it my best shot,” Mr. Ategeka said.

“I wrote long essays, tones of google docs and had to fill in and answer a lot of questions. I had to do that for a lot of schools. Over 150. Admissions have come out so far, and these are schools that have accepted me, 122,”Ategeka added.

Contrary to his family and society’s expectations of him pursuing renowned career paths such as medicine, engineering and the like, Ategeka tells this that his passion is to pursue music and become a pop star, something that his dad embraced eventually and offered full support.

“He (dad) was very very supportive, at first, but when I was trying to talk to him about majoring in music, that was a bit of a challenge, you know, the whole African ideology of being super indoctrinated, like you have to become a doctor, engineer, exetra, but with applying to all these schools, I wanted to make a career for myself in music and he saw how invested I was in it, so he appreciated it, and I am really grateful for that,” Ategeka revealed.

He further tells this reporter about the extent of his passion in music.

“It feels like a calling. I am here to spread a certain message to the world, through music. A message of love and peace. I want to bring that safe space and joy to the people,” Ategeka said. “I also believe in God and feel like that’s what God put me to do, to bring a bit more love to the world,” He added.

His father, Christopher Ategeka urges parents to be supportive of their children’s careers and aspirations.

“You can’t really make a child do a thing they are not passionate about. When I realized that I just had to support his passion and other desires,” Mr Christopher Ategeka said.

“My message to other parents raising kids is, Support your kid’s passions, provide resources, and encourage perseverance. There will be setbacks, and you will doubt yourself sometimes, but every child’s unique talent deserves to be nurtured and celebrated. Stay positive and believe in their potential. It takes faith, hope and gratitude. Let us all learn to love and support the type of child you have rather than the one you wish you had,” Mr Christopher Ategeka noted.

Helms Ategeka who was last in Entebbe Junior School, is now graduating high school from his home state of California in the United States this coming Saturday and is forever grateful that he chose music as his career path. He will be joining his father’s Alma Matter, University of California Berkley, to pursue his dreams.

He advises young people to focus on what success means to them.

“Don’t let other people define what success is to you. If you find that one thing you are passionate about and it works for you, cultivate it and best of luck!”