As a Man Thinketh in His Heart ...

|| As a Man Thinketh in His Heart ... ||

You may not be conversant with the above saying but it is true and from a verse of the bible. I urge you to read on ..

In 2011, myself and a group of friends met a lecturer after a class and requested for lecture materials for studies to help us in her course. I remember clearly that Goodluck Amede, PMP? and Oyintiloye Shada were in that group and the course was Russian History. Strange for a student in oil and gas engineering but it was a compulsory requirement for graduation.

We had just started our first year and were struggling to some extent with the pace of the Russians when the teach in their language. However, we knew the requirements for graduating with a distinction and were willing to give our best effort.

The expectation would generally be a warm response from the lecturer seeing we were foreigners expressing such level of interest in understanding Russian History. But she weighed us in her balances and considered us unable to make any grade better than credits in her course.

She offered us credits on a platter if we comply with regular attendance of lectures, submission of assignments and the likes. I remember her telling us how even the Russian students struggle with Russian History and you know we were foreigners struggling with the language. We were just about 8 months in the country at the time.

She was an experienced lecturer and I believe her experience had defined her opinions. Right or wrong? Our results suggest the later.

Long story short she refused to give us materials to study but we refused her offer. I don't know how you see our decision but a credit (3 in Russian grading system) was for us, a mediocre grade. We were on a mission to distinctions and a 3 wasn't going to do us good.We left and continued to source materials and study.

One thing led to another and she was absent on the day of exam. Another lecturer administered the exam (usually viva style in Russia) and the rest is now a part of our history. We gave our best and the result was soo good Shyaka Hakim nicknamed me Tsar. This is not the best part of it, a number of us in the category she considered unable made Bs in her course.

I had an A, the Russian 5, alongside 1 or 2 other Russians in my class. Did it come easy? No. In fact, I had to answer three extra questions outside the range of the questions paper variant I had picked to convince the lecturer that I deserved that grade.

The reality is, Russian History is very vast and tough, especially if you study it as a foreigner. She was right to an extent. Her error was in not identifying the impact of a man's thinking on who he becomes.

Where there is a will, there is a way and as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

The way might be tough, you may be reminded of the challenges ahead by people ahead of you, they may even offer you mediocre comfort zone option but remember your vision. Be willing to invest the energy, time and resources. Pursue excellence and be refuse settling for comfort zone options.

Things do fall in place when we are determined and willing to invest the right resources. You know what is even better than breaking the barrier and making that A? Myself and the other names in this post graduated with Distinctions at the end of the bachelors and masters progrmmes.

Accepting her position would have had an undesirable impact on our minds.

It might be tough but it is doable.

It might be rocket science but you can comprehend it.

It might be happening thousands of kilometers below the earth crust or sea floor, but you can figure it out. After all, that is what we do in well engineering and drilling.

Keep believing, keep working. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he and nothing shall be impossible to him that believes.

We are work in progress and indeed making progress.

The other Nigerian scholars in my set were Mustapha Abdulsalam, CRSP Kazeem Odunlami Umar Alfazazi and Adedayo Bayode Oluro . Can't seem to lay hands on a group picture but after us was another set that broke records. The likes of Precious Afolabi , Farida Mustafa , Sandra Edidiong - Johnson , Rachael Josephs , TIMOTHY AJAO , Yusuf Abba Junior Ishaya etc. I will tell you a thing or two about them someday.

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If you are interested in foreign scholarship opportunities, I recommend you follow ASAT on Facebook and YouTube. I share and discuss opportunities there.

Thank you Federal Scholarship Board Nigeria for funding our studies. It wasn't a waste.

#students #scholarships #excellence