MY EXPERIENCE DURING MY MASTER'S DEFENSE

All I heard was "Tell us your name".

So I remembered that morning, the 6th of July, the dreaded day finally arrived. If you have ever been a student, you will know what I am talking about. I was dressed in my beautiful shoes and clothes, ready to go and stand in front of my bosses to defend my project. Then all of a sudden, my friend brought to my notice that my dress did not align. And I was like whaaaat, I am already too nervous, can you not add to it? And then I quickly ran back to the room for a complete renovation and zoomed off to my department because apparently, time was already against me.

I successfully got to my department and there was a lot of time to practice. I had already written down my lines and crammed every bit of it that everyone who heard me practice that day knew that I was more than ready for the defense. My mouth was all running and my speech was beautiful. I was proud of myself.

According to the defense roaster I was supposed to come in with the second batch but somehow, I was called to come in first. I was not emotionally prepared for that at all. I was shocked beyond words. How can I be the first speaker? I have never been the first speaker to anything, there must be a mistake somewhere. All these were the thoughts running through my mind. Well, the deed had been done, I can't back out now.

So I carried my body and entered the war room. My supervisor, Prof R.A Sanusi, the H.O.D., Dr. Folasire, the external supervisor Dr. S. Ijarotimi from FUTA, and every other lecturer were powerfully seated. I just wanted to turn back and take my leave. But common, this is not your first and it won't be your last, so brazen up, it won't take more than 5 minutes and it would all be over, I said to myself.

I was ushered to my seat and the examination began:

External Supervisor: Tell us your name.

Me: My name is Oyekanmi Victoria

External Supervisor: Of course, I know your name already, it's clearly written in front of me, so tell us your name.

Me: The title of my project issss

External Supervisor: I know that already, tell us your name.

Me: (looking so confused)

Everyone: Victoria, tell us something new about your work.

Me: Oh! Was that the question?

Apparently, the external supervisor had been asking me all along to tell him what was new about my work, but all I was hearing was "Tell us your name" because according to my speech that I had crammed and had been applauded, tell us your name was, of course, the number one on that list and the title of my project was next. So when the external supervisor was asking me a question completely different from what I had planned, my mind did not pick it up, because hearing is truly of the mind. I was hearing something completely different and I could have sworn what I heard was what the supervisor actually said if not for the too many witnesses that heard something else.

And that was how my journey into my defense began and ended. My lecturers sure do have a way of calming us down so as not to feel pressured and too nervous. I was beautifully calmed down and the rest is history. I am finally a graduate. Yay!

My project title is "Nutritional Status and Dietary Diversity of Public Primary School Children (6-12 years) in Three Selected Local Government Areas of Ibadan".

Malnutrition is a significant public health challenge with short and long-term harmful effects on children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Oyo state has the highest number of malnourished children in the South West geo-political zone of Nigeria as declared by the Civil Society-Scale Up Nutrition in Nigeria.?Findings from this study showed that the majority of the children were within the normal category of Body Mass Index for age, which is good news compared to previous studies. Also, the dietary diversity of the study participants reflected that the majority of the participants recorded a medium dietary diversity which is not so bad as well but that does not dispute the fact that a large number of children are still malnourished.

And so, that's all for now. Watch out for what's up next.