Right at Home

January 2025

Ekomobong Okon is from the West African nation of Nigeria. When he was just 10 years old, his father passed away, which, in his culture, made Okon the man of his home. He now carries the huge responsibility to care for his five siblings. Okon has always dreamed of becoming an airline pilot. Growing up, this seemed almost impossible since he comes from a very poor family.

While serving as a missionary, Okon befriended another missionary who spoke about his home in Colorado. This friend convinced Okon to move to the United States after his mission to attend flight training school. Okon says, “He told his parents about my situation and their hearts were softened to help me out. . . . They helped with financing my way to immigrate to the country and that was the biggest thing I needed help with. They also let me live with them, which was such a blessing.”

Okon needed to keep his student status in order to stay in the US while working on his required flight hours. He decided to attend Ensign College because it was affordable, he could learn from a gospel perspective, it was located in a big city, and he loved the idea of smaller class sizes.

He loves how many international students attend Ensign. He loves speaking to others in his native tongue of Efik. He explains that Ensign is one of the most diverse campuses in the state of Utah and says that he feels “right at home” and finds great joy in studying there.

Okon says that the scholarships he has received have been a “relief” and have allowed him to not worry about tuition. He says, “I want to say a big thank you to those who donate. It helps people who are not able to afford education go to school, which is so important. It takes really kind people to donate toward scholarships, and I just want to say thank you very much. May God bless those who donate to Ensign College. And may God replenish their funds. You helped to provide for me.”

In about a year, Okon will graduate with his degree in communications. He hopes to be close to completing his remaining 1,200 flight hours so he can obtain his commercial pilot license. His life is a story of strength and resilience—and success, thanks to the many people who have helped him along his journey.