OAU Student Breaks 28-Year Record
Arinola Olaiya, the Obafemi Awolowo University Surgery student, who just completed her course in the institution will be graduating, not only as the best student in her field but also with her 12 awards during the convocation ceremony later in December.
Speaking with The PUNCH, she recounted her experience on how she soared so excellently to break the record of 28 years in the Federal University.
Although, Arinola initially never got admission to study Medicine instead botany in 2010 but reapplied into the College of Health Science the next year because she had always been convinced of her career path.
“I had always known that I would be a doctor. I actually got admission to study Botany in my first year at OAU. That was in 2010 . But then , I knew that I wasn’t going to end up being a botanist. I knew I was going to be a doctor. So I sat another UTME and here I am today”, she mentioned.
As much as the feat of the young lady seems overwhelming, she established that it was not even in her agenda to finish with such distinction when she first entered the institution but diligence had brought her thus far.
The potential surgeon however confessed that the medical profession is not a cheap field for a mere fantasy of a child but demands a thorough deliberation before the parents can allow their wards to venture into studying it.
“I did not set out to graduate with distinction in the university. I just think that I tried to strive for perfection. Although it is good to have goals because they keep you going, who you are really matters a lot. Then there is the God factor. I still believe that the grace of God has a lot to do with my achievement.”
“Medical school is not for just anybody. If you have a daughter that wants to study medicine, you have to make her think seriously about her ambition. You have to ask her if she really wants to be a doctor. You have to count the costs before she goes ahead to study medicine.
“Initially, I was excited about being in Medical school. In part two, I started reading big books.
“Then I started getting used to the language of Anatomy, Medical bio-chemistry and more.
“With time , I got used to it. To keep going, even as some people were being withdrawn from medical school, I just had to hold my head high”, she narrated.
On maintaining her good performances, she ended with the words that:
“For someone like me that was getting many distinctions, keeping up with the success story was tough. But I didn’t expect that my efforts would result in such huge success. I only wanted to try my best and do everything possible in my power to get things done.”
