Gilbert Egekeze leaned back on a sofa in his family’s meticulously styled Lake in the Hills home, arms folded, with a smile on his face.

Egekeze spoke with pride about his four children, while his wife Liza sat a few feet away on a loveseat, also smiling.

They came to the U.S. from Nigeria in the 1980s. Since then, both have earned multiple degrees – Gilbert became a medical doctor, Lisa a registered nurse. They are raising four children in a home where education, religious faith, love and humility provide the foundation.