Gold Refining Starter,1

Pep talk to a Freshman

The University is more than just an academic institution of learning. And Engineering is a world of its own; I remember they say an engineer’s duty to humanity is to make life easier: a profession that is admired and despised by a many. University of Maiduguri is just a small place. Ok, I’ll cut the history lesson this is just a little gist I wish someone had told me, knowledge that will definitely be useful to you in future. They say ‘you never see what an elderly person sees while sitting down’ I used to think it is all about age or tradition but it is purely experience.

Today’s 8th March 2008 and I am about 6years already in the university presently a sophomore in my new department Linguistics in English. It is not the story of pity that counts; it is the reality of the struggle. I started out in mechanical engineering; I never had the drive but those who had it said the faculty got it sucked out of them, completely. I hope what you are about to read will not only make you appreciate life but ginger you to excel beyond your course mates.

We call the faculty ‘Boys College’ started out a great number, with time the number was cut from first year to graduating finally. I love math and engineering drawing because the two allow room for creativity, I know little about circuits but one great thing is the simple definition of electricity by my high school teacher is also similar to that of emotions. Yeah! Electricity he says is ‘electrons in motion’ while emotion is said to be ‘energy in motion’ it is wonderful what we can do with the knowledge we get from high school. Math 103 remains one of the interesting courses I did; given a question and an answer and all you have to do is prove it. Wow! Math 208 was also fun got my first B in the university.

Drawing was more creative and the accuracy just wow, you start a piece with just one straight line and before you know it with the patience and accuracy the birth of a masterpiece. It is a pity you leave math at your third year and just focus mainly on your main courses. However, those were my hare days. I never got a good grade in my department and I was ignorant of the GPA system. So here, lays the difference, concentrate more on the 3unit courses they tend to be easier and kind of hold your GPA from falling apart, but that does not mean you should forget the bulky stressful single unit courses.

This might sound weird or really out of line but please get a hold of your dairy today and write down what you love most about school, engineering, your passion, dream and all, to the teeth. Not because it is going to fade or turn out ironic. However, with time when you look back and read it, it will help you grow and like a shelter from the rain or a motivator when life hits you hard and everyone you once called a friend is gone, you hold on.

Fact is when you got hold of your admission letter it was just your name that was written there, that is how it is and how it will always be. The earlier the better, that does not mean you stand-alone, be an island or do not make friends. Make friends you can keep, gain what you can for sometimes we gain from fools for they utter wisdom by accident, and a foe brings competition. Make friends with admirers, for you get to kickback and laugh over a funny line when you are bored. It’s a pity for first kids like myself we tend to learn from experience both ours and that of others, all I am saying might seem odd but I wish someone had told me half of it and the ride would have been easier, but all the same. Remember every stone broken or bruised together makes a monument, every star bright or dim tends to add to the beauty of the heavens and the absence of one tiny star makes the sky empty.

We gain from many, be independent and strong. Never blame someone for your mistakes, if you really need to put the blame on someone then blame yourself, pack the pieces and move ahead. Pick the pieces and forge ahead, whatever the stakes might be. This probably sounds like parables or a fairy tale; just wish someone had told me about the GPA system or about friends and responsibility before my third year. When I repeated in my third year that is when I realized I was alone all along from the beginning. Walking across the hall pass by my course mates having lectures, it felt cold in a way or dejected I should say because I was repeating and they had gone one step ahead. They forged ahead while I had to listen to the same old lecture repeated over and over again boring yet it refines the inner being to determine to take a bold step towards the future. Never got a GPA beyond 1.5 in engineering sounds dumb but it was clearly broken focus sometimes our results don’t really tell who we are, or define us; you alone knows what’s deep down in there inside you. Impossibility is a beauty, a path walked only by those who dare to achieve something great in life.

Achievement comes not only with a responsibility and committed but it is usually backed by the drive or passion to continue beyond being worn out or bored, beyond being broken or the last straw. A passion can be from within or without, I clearly had no passion from within but I wanted something to hold on to on the outside; empathy or commitment, but none showed up. Broken focus did not help because here was I lying between the fact that I helped a few with assignments or taught math but today they are graduates with a GPA above 2.5. It was never jealousy that got my focus broken, by no means, the passion was not sucked away for it never was there initially.

The simple knowledge of the underground politics turned me down, read my heart out in class and end up with an E or better a D. While a dude that cannot clearly write out a sentence or corroborate a lecture ends up with a B. It is not the envy that hits me most but the knowledge that I am in Rome but cannot do as the Romans do. The lonely fact that even at my third year with a GPA of 1.0 there is a possibility of graduating with a 3.5. Just need to hold on to a bunch of A’s and a couple of B’s or worst C+, this is to show that even at the tail end I had the hope of graduating with something worth showing but no compromise. You can graduate with a first class because you now have information that is more than just words, some part of this might only make sense after a while. Nevertheless, presently a girl in chemical engineering also started with us she has something to hold onto. Now she is the only first class student in the faculty after a long while, it is from within; that we all know.

First time you get to see the status, many fall along the path others get withdrawn and very few hold on to the end. What is inside a person is like gold and needs to be refined, with stress, hard work, rejection, are a few that you’ll call friends and reality knocks at your door. Friends not only will you get used to them; you will master each accordingly by persistence. I cannot hide the fact that a funny politics goes on, good things happen to bad people just like how ‘bad things happen to good people’ some say there is nothing they can do. Well for starters, it is never coincidence. Engineering is not a walk in the park so many go for the easy way to cheat in exams, people do funny thing and it is a wonder how creative they become every year in the line of this business when they could have invested their time and energy in the positive line and achieve great results. But that’s what happens when the passion has died and perspective becomes blurry. For now talking in the exam hall might sound like a bloody crime but the worst is ‘chips’; yes it’s a little summary of a whole course on a tiny paper. You will see wonders in school but amazingly, the conviction to join or learn the trade is no option because that does not define who you are. Its way blessed and beautiful to end up with a silly second class lower or something, worst than a first class that everyone knows you cannot defend. It all boils down to the fact that you are alone. Its pride they say that comes before a fall, my dear engineering girl I’ve submitted empty booklets not because the questions were hard, yes I could not compromise with chips but it was clearly because the questions were cheep and I didn’t read hard. What is painful is the knowledge that you can do better if only you came in prepared, I once submitted an empty booklet with just one line it was CE206 and the line was ‘I will pass with an A next session’

Well, it was a nice start but a carryover becomes heavy, even heavier than what we hoped it would be. There is power play and a lot more, from money switches to deals beyond the staffs. Attractive sum but the penalty is not just disgraceful but cold and lonely, thank God there is barely a case of male lectures hitting on female students. Except for those lazy students that show up in offices trying to plead for a grade and end up paying a price they cannot afford. Sometimes friends lure us into the wrong path; just draw out the line to such friends. The best form of defense is the old school way: prayer. God will not only fight the battles for us He promises to see us through the rough road to a safe destination, all we need to do is ask. If I were given, a chance to go through life all over again I would do it all the way, so I can get to share these little facts. Hold on to what you have I see a bold and bright future ahead of you.

We all have a reason to live to, I cannot forget the day I saw my results bluntly on the notice. I was done doing time but never knew it would be that bad, but with the experience and priceless knowledge gained. Logically I was looking at failure on the notice but it was a chance to life, a chance to a new start and I choose to go for what I have passion for deep inside. Passion that can never die out of me by stress or boredom and not only am I in school I am trying hard to make something out of life. A perspective no one can see, again impossibility is a walk in the park. Hold on to your passion and zeal for the course does not let anyone take it away from you. I have learned that failure is only failure if we let it be, but moving on makes us stronger and life just easy.

Ordinary people learn from their experience while extraordinary people learn from perspective, which only comes from being away from the crowd, we learn from the mistakes of others. Do take caution, play your part and leave the rest to God; He will take charge. When you are done studying give an extra 5min, that is the difference between ordinary people and extraordinary, ok. Learn from all your friends; avoid the path of losers, learn the new ways from winners. We all read books differently, some summarize on a piece of paper others cram both works but not for everyone. Do not crave for just textbooks, read your notes regularly, practice assignments and examples. You never know when or where they will show up. For further understanding use textbooks. Above all, never feel shy to ask someone to teach you what you do not know; we learn everyday. Learn from the best in your class but do not limit yourself to be like them, be the best, be original, and be yourself.

About the Author

Lawan Baldwin is a writer and currently studying Linguistics in English in the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria. Who enjoys listening to music, watching great movies, reading novels and making new friends.