An Edinburgh Napier student had a graduation to remember when her uncle surprised her by arriving unannounced from Atlanta, Georgia.
Yemesi Augustina Odebunmi was graduating with a Masters in International Business Management and unknown to her in the crowd at the Usher Hall was her uncle Femi Akindele who had arrived the previous day from the US.
What’s more, this is not the first time that Uncle Femi has pulled this trick, having also surprised Yemesi at her 2009 graduation in Nigeria.
Yemesi said: “Seeing him made me feel on top of the world. He has been my backbone. He has supported all my dreams since my childhood. Even when I did my first Masters in my home country of Nigeria he came to surprise me as well but this one I definitely was not expecting. I was so shocked.”
Femi, a former engineer who himself completed a PhD in business management in retirement, said: “I was much happier than I ever expected. I didn’t expect to be here, and get in, but it was made possible. I really enjoyed the graduation. It was a little different to what I expected – it was very impressive, the way that it should be.”
Yemesi, who is based in Glasgow, was also accompanied to her graduation by her husband Patrick and her two daughters, Favour, 9, and Isabella, 6, and family friend Sheila Sellers who also flew over from the US.