₦airaland Forum

The journey of a thousand miles starts from those little steps, no matter how insignificant they are. At the end of the tunnel through the different ASUU strikes, setbacks, and delays I can comfortably say I triumphed.

Right from my secondary school days, it hasn’t been a smooth ride. Immediately after completing my high school education, I took up employment as an assistant teacher in a primary school. This choice sharpened my intellect to a large extent. However, seeing some of my classmates gaining admission, especially those born with a silver spoon, created a hunger in me to strive harder. Though the salary was meagre, persistence became my watchword. To compound the whole scenario, I came from a family that wasn’t financially buoyant. The struggle of being trained by a single mother and supported by siblings was a burden too heavy to bear.

Before even picking the required JAMB form, I was fully aware of the adversities ahead. Within a year and a couple of months, I was able to save up a considerable amount from my salary, picked the JAMB form, aced the exams, and met all the requirements in the brochure to secure admission.

Sometimes, I get this singular question: what spurred my interest in studying Sociology?
My interest in this field can be remotely tied to my flair for research. That inquisitive nature is hard to deny. Sociology afforded me the opportunity to broaden my horizons on the nucleus of human society and its diverse social phenomena.

My start as a fresher is one I would never forget in a hurry. All the endless hours at the UNICAL e-library paid off, even when mosquitoes feasted on my frail body during night classes. As a dogged Malabite, I endured through it all. At the end of that session, I had lost a considerable amount of weight and had a similar semblance to the emaciated look of a skeleton. Lo and behold, when results were posted on the portal, a CGPA of 4.74 propelled me to study even harder.

My sophomore year, in 200 level, was the most difficult and hardest to juggle. My whole world came crashing down. Imagine a high-flying student dropping from a CGPA of 4.74 down to 4.44. This period destabilized my mental health. The feeling of inadequacy kicked in rapidly; I became depressed and even suicidal.

However, what kept me going was the encouragement from a few friends, family, and lecturers. This was a period I became a social recluse.

300 level was one I would term a redemption period. Academically, my grades leapt back up again, and after that session, my CGPA soared to 4.56, with a GPA that drastically increased to 4.80.

Taking a cue from Karl Marx, who opined that:
"Men can make their history but not of their own free will. The circumstances under which they do so are not chosen by them, but inherited from the past,"
I believe the situations we find ourselves in sometimes tend to change the whole narrative. However, the choices we make afterwards can either take us far or leave us redundant.

Today, I’m elated to utter that I am amongst the first two graduates from the Department of Sociology, faculty of social sciences University of Calabar (UNICAL), to graduate with a first-class degree.

©Odey Godwin Agbaka

Odey1997:
The journey of a thousand miles starts from those little steps, no matter how insignificant they are. At the end of the tunnel through the different ASUU strikes, setbacks, and delays I can comfortably say I triumphed.

Right from my secondary school days, it hasn’t been a smooth ride. Immediately after completing my high school education, I took up employment as an assistant teacher in a primary school. This choice sharpened my intellect to a large extent. However, seeing some of my classmates gaining admission, especially those born with a silver spoon, created a hunger in me to strive harder. Though the salary was meagre, persistence became my watchword. To compound the whole scenario, I came from a family that wasn’t financially buoyant. The struggle of being trained by a single mother and supported by siblings was a burden too heavy to bear.

Before even picking the required JAMB form, I was fully aware of the adversities ahead. Within a year and a couple of months, I was able to save up a considerable amount from my salary, picked the JAMB form, aced the exams, and met all the requirements in the brochure to secure admission.

Sometimes, I get this singular question: what spurred my interest in studying Sociology?
My interest in this field can be remotely tied to my flair for research. That inquisitive nature is hard to deny. Sociology afforded me the opportunity to broaden my horizons on the nucleus of human society and its diverse social phenomena.

My start as a fresher is one I would never forget in a hurry. All the endless hours at the UNICAL e-library paid off, even when mosquitoes feasted on my frail body during night classes. As a dogged Malabite, I endured through it all. At the end of that session, I had lost a considerable amount of weight and had a similar semblance to the emaciated look of a skeleton. Lo and behold, when results were posted on the portal, a CGPA of 4.74 propelled me to study even harder.

My sophomore year, in 200 level, was the most difficult and hardest to juggle. My whole world came crashing down. Imagine a high-flying student dropping from a CGPA of 4.74 down to 4.44. This period destabilized my mental health. The feeling of inadequacy kicked in rapidly; I became depressed and even suicidal.

However, what kept me going was the encouragement from a few friends, family, and lecturers. This was a period I became a social recluse.

300 level was one I would term a redemption period. Academically, my grades leapt back up again, and after that session, my CGPA soared to 4.56, with a GPA that drastically increased to 4.80.

Taking a cue from Karl Marx, who opined that:
"Men can make their history but not of their own free will. The circumstances under which they do so are not chosen by them, but inherited from the past,"
I believe the situations we find ourselves in sometimes tend to change the whole narrative. However, the choices we make afterwards can either take us far or leave us redundant.

Today, I’m elated to utter that I am amongst the first two graduates from the Department of Sociology, faculty of social sciences University of Calabar (UNICAL), to graduate with a first-class degree.

©Odey Godwin Agbaka

A very big congratulations to you.

Congrats.. I pray u get a job with ease

naturalwaves:
A very big congratulations to you.

Thanks