Jaiku Neoj

For Jaiku Neoj, returning to college wasn’t just about earning a degree—it was about finding joy, identity, and purpose. A first-generation college student, Jaiku’s initial journey through higher education left them feeling drained and disheartened. After graduating, Jaiku entered the workforce while embracing deep self-reflection, beginning their transition, and seeking spaces where they could exist authentically.

On the eve of their birthday, a conversation with a close friend reignited Jaiku’s desire for change. Feeling stuck in a dead-end job and disconnected from their creativity, Jaiku decided it was time to go back to school. On their birthday, they walked into Harold Washington College and signed up for classes. Immediately, it felt right.

“Walking through those doors,” Jaiku recalled, “I felt centered. I felt like I was back in the game.”

With the support of the Timuel D. Black Jr. Fellowship Program, Jaiku enrolled in architecture classes and found both financial support and a sense of belonging. The program’s mission—honoring a civil rights leader and a legendary City Colleges professor—mirrored Jaiku’s own search for meaning and legacy.

“My professors poured into me,” they said. “They saw me, acknowledged me, and helped me see myself,” they shared. “I’ve finally found a space where I can dream and where those dreams are nurtured.”

A pivotal moment in Jaiku’s journey came during a powerful fellowship-sponsored trip to Alabama in the spring of 2025 where Jaiku and other students visited historic civil rights landmarks. At the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Jaiku was profoundly moved. The museum takes visitors through the story of slavery until modern day civil rights protests and mass incarceration.

“It was hard but necessary,” they said. “The museum didn’t just talk about history—it made it real. Seeing the faces, reading the stories, hearing the voices of people who were enslaved, incarcerated, silenced—it hit me that the fight for justice is ongoing. And I’m part of that fight just by existing as my full self.”

The museum’s powerful storytelling sharpened Jaiku’s understanding of how systemic oppression continues today—and deepened their resolve to pursue change through creativity, education, and community engagement.

“Walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, I felt the weight of history—but also the strength of resilience,” Jaiku said. “It made me realize that the freedom to be who I am, to speak up, to take up space—those are rights people fought and died for. I can’t take that for granted.”

The trip solidified Jaiku’s determination to show up authentically in every classroom, bringing their whole self into conversations, projects, and study groups. Their openness helped foster a true sense of community—not just among classmates and professors, but with strangers in elevators who spotted their photography and asked about darkroom classes.

Now, as Jaiku approaches 30, they are thriving—an architecture student, a creative, and a dreamer fully engaged in a life they love.