We recently sat down with former Luce Scholars to answer frequently asked questions about the Program.
Lolayemi Charles was a Luce Scholar in 2023-2024. She spent the year in Vietnam.
Leaning on The Luce Scholars Cohort
Lolayemi Charles returned to La Jolla for Selection Weekend as Luce Scholar Alumnus and was immediately flooded with memories. “I was walking into one of the rooms,” she said, “and I remembered the time I met one of my best friends in the cohort.” She sent him a photo of the exact table where they met.
Cohort members share a true sense of connection. Charles said that connection is what she misses most: “You really do end up leaning on the people around you–I really do miss that sense of camaraderie and connection that I felt with all of them.”
The Luce Year Changes You
Like most Luce Scholars, Charles considered herself to be a person with a lot of goals. She didn’t realize, however, how limiting those goals were. Her Luce Year helped her recognize how limiting her prior thinking had been. “My Luce Year was pivotal in exposing me to areas of interest I didn’t know I had,” she explained. During her Luce Year, Charles attended a conference at the cross section of neuroscience, technology, and aging—fields she had not previously explored.
“I didn’t realize,” she continued, “my tendency to micro-plan every single step of my career decades in advance had actually been limiting.” This flipped a switch for Charles. While she does not know which specific area of interest she will pursue in ten years, she is sure of one thing: “I do know that I don’t want to be stationary in life anymore,” she said. “I hadn’t realized,” she explained, “how much I had yearned to see the world, to see more people, to connect with people from around the world—it’s something I plan on integrating into my career moving forward.”
Learn To Say Yes
“Some of my best moments,” Charles told us, “came from just saying yes.” A smile grew on her face, and she laughed as she remembered “dabbling into music” on her Luce Year— “which is so random,” she said. She was unexpectedly inspired to audition for a choir, so she said yes and followed through. Before the end of her audition, Charles was admitted to the choir, and the director asked if she was available for an event in just three days. Again, Charles said yes. “I hadn’t known,” she said with a smile, “that I had agreed to do an event in front of 3,000 people and on National TV.”
The next day, she was fitted for a traditional Vietnamese dress and given a song to learn in one night. The next thing she knew, Charles was walking into a stadium to perform: “I am telling you, I didn’t know what I was walking into when I said yes,” she said. The event became one of Charles’ favorite memories from her Luce Year. She thinks this mentality is exactly what makes for a positive Luce Year.
“Even when you’re not sure, even when you know you don’t feel the most prepared,” she suggests, “learn to push through because it will lead to the most unexpected surprises.”
