A True Homecoming for Alumni Siblings

The Arinzehs Returned Home to Experience Rutgers Homecoming Together.

The recent Rutgers–New Brunswick homecoming was more than just a college reunion for the Arinzeh family: It was a family celebration as well. All four Rutgers-New Brunswick graduates came to commemorate their favorite and shared alma mater.

“Homecoming was such a wonderful experience, and we enjoyed being back on campus and seeing how much things have changed and in certain ways stayed the same,” says Ukachi Arinzeh SAS ’94, founder/producer of uNO Visuals in New York City. “It was actually the first time we were all at Rutgers at the same time.”

Ukachi was joined by his siblings: Uchenna ENG ’88, a real estate developer in Washington D.C.; Ugo RBS ’92, founder and Managing Director of a London real estate firm; and Uzo SAS ’90, an investment banker from West Orange.

“This homecoming experience is great,” said Ugo, who normally observes the event in London. This was Ugo’s first homecoming since moving to London more than 15 years ago, although she says she enjoys the London celebration gathering with alumni at a pub to watch the homecoming football game on television.

The Arinzehs moved from Nigeria when they were kids in 1974, settling in Elizabeth, New Jersey, before their parents Julius, a pharmacist, and their late mother Mabel, an accountant and successful businesswoman, purchased a home in Somerset, close to the New Brunswick campus.

With four siblings who were close in age, their parents told them Rutgers was the only place they could afford to have two children in college at the same time, Ugo says. She and her siblings want to thank their parents for providing them with a solid foundation of a great education. “They worked hard and lived and demonstrated the values they cherished and instilled in us. They sent us to Catholic school and a good university, supporting us throughout. They did what parents should do if they are able—which is to put their children out in the world with a strong identity, sense of family and the tools to make their way.”

Rutgers Prepares Students for Success

Ukachi says he attended homecoming in New Brunswick for the first time three years ago and then made it a point to go every year, and Uchenna recalls his brothers attending homecoming and sending photos. “I was so upset because they were taking pictures with my friends,” he says, so this is the third homecoming he came up from Washington D.C. to attend since then.

Before the festivities began, the successful siblings gathered in the living room of their father's Somerset home to reminisce and agreed that Rutgers prepared them well for their careers.

After graduating from Rutgers, Uzo accepted a financial job at Sony and then decided to pursue a career on Wall Street. He attended NYU for business school, graduating with honors. “I remember that when I first started the program, I was very intimidated,” he says. “I was competing against the best in the world, and my Rutgers education prepared me quite well, which is something that I have never forgotten. I very much attribute my Rutgers education for being the foundation for everything I've achieved in life.”

Uchenna, who also went on to get his MBA at the University of Michigan, also says that Rutgers set him up for success. “Rutgers prepared me well to be able to compete with the top students around the world in a super competitive environment.”

Ugo agrees with her brothers and says Rutgers Business School prepared her for her MBA and an accomplished real estate career.

‘Beautiful Experience’

Ugo says Rutgers is a convenient option for New Jersey families, but living on campus was an amazing experience. “I think it is worth mentioning, even though you live in New Jersey, having the on-campus experience is phenomenal, and if parents can afford to give that to their children and give them that opportunity to really create their own network and decision making and autonomy, it is a beautiful experience."

Ugo says that she loved the campus, noting that she cherished living in the river dorms on the College Avenue campus her freshman year and then in the newly built suites on the Busch campus her junior year. “I felt like I belonged somewhere. I loved having multiple campuses where you could go and discover. There are so many opportunities at Rutgers and so many like-minded people to connect with.”

For Uchenna, Rutgers provided a “significant shift” in his life as it helped him discover his identity, he says. The friends he met “helped me find myself and become the person I am today. I met five guys in my dorm, and we became friends, and these guys are still my best friends today.”

And after three siblings went to Rutgers, Ukachi says he visited his siblings, and it just felt natural that he also attend. “My big brothers would always bring me to campus,” he says. “My experience at Rutgers was amazing. By the time I was a freshman, I knew all these upperclassmen.”

During freshman orientation, the other students were impressed that Ukachi was popular with upperclassmen. “And they were excited to see me,” he says. “I piggybacked off (my brothers’) friends, and so I really had all these upperclassmen who were always looking out for me. And then my sister was there at the same time, so she was the only one who tried to act like she didn’t know me.”

Embracing Diversity

The Arinzehs said they were also impressed with the diversity on campus. “So, for me, Rutgers was the first time I was exposed to people from all over the world, various cultures, various backgrounds,” says Uzo. “Even for New Jersey, it was just so diverse.”

It was “an amazing experience learning about other people's cultures and their way of life and the different types of experiences and upbringing that they had versus what we had,” he says. Uzo also met his wife at Rutgers, and his son Quintin is now a junior at Rutgers studying communications.

‘Sense of Community’

Rutgers also provides a sense of community, Ugo says. “New Brunswick is one of the biggest campuses you will ever find,” she says. “One of my favorite things was the Commons on College Avenue, where a group of us would come in almost daily and do the (newspaper) crossword puzzle together.”

Ugo is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., while Ukachi is a brother in the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. She says she enjoys attending the many special Rutgers alumni events in London, including a recent jazz evening and annual theatrical performances. “It’s exciting to see the global outreach and the impressive work of alumni and the university outside of America.”

Coming back to campus, Ugo says she is impressed with the updated stadium, the business school building, and the transformation of College Avenue. She also praises the Rutgers University Foundation for its hard work. “The investment (made by donations) is carrying on the legacy. To be abroad and see the brand growing and being celebrated is so uplifting,” she says.

“I am so proud of the work that the foundation is doing to connect with alumni who are in incredible fields abroad. Rutgers is a community, and it is wonderful to see the strength and caliber of the work that they are doing and the investment back into the school.”

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