Education
By Anthony Isibor.
MICHAEL Uche Ugbogu, the first-class graduate of Radiography from the University of Lagos, UNILAG, has shared his experience and journey through the university and how he bagged a first-class degree.
Uche, who hails from Imo state, said that his parents and hard work were responsible for scoring 4.62 CGPA and also emerging as the best graduating student in his department.
Speaking with Realnews correspondent in an exclusive interview, Uche said: “My family played a very huge role in my success today. First of all, even before the financial support, there was emotional support because like every other student in the country, there were challenges, difficult times, I had challenges in school, many challenges and my family was there for me throughout
“I was not always on the path to a first-class result, there were times that I was close and there were times that I was not there, and throughout those times (and it is very important) when I was bringing C’s home, I will have them know that I have brought C’s home. And my parents did not show any iota of disappointment, they were supportive, they were very understanding. They had high expectations of me, and they had a loving way of showing it.
“So I was under no pressure from them to excel academically and that alone brings its peace of mind and has its advantages. That was one major role they played.
“When I needed someone to talk to, my sisters were there for me, my parents were there for me when I needed advice, and they were always there for me.
“There was a time I was coming from home, my family made sacrifices, they relieved me of all chores just so I could focus on my studies.
“Another factor would be God’s mercy because I am a practicing Christian, and I believe that there were things beyond my control, but God’s mercy, and grace saw me through,” he said.
Relieving his experience, the first-class graduate noted that he never planned to be a radiographer, but circumstances made him opt for the course.
“I haven’t always wanted to be a radiographer, I initially wanted to be a medical doctor, but at the time of attempting admission, certain circumstances caused me to opt for radiography instead.
“But on starting the course, I had two options in my first year; to just continue with the radiography or reattempt UTME, and enter again.
“However, after my first year in the course, I fell in love with it. So I saw no reason to go back to medicine.
Uche added that he is passionate about teaching and would love to be a teacher.
“Personally I will love to explore roles in academics. I am very passionate about academics, and it implies that in the nearest future, I will be looking at opportunities for my master’s or post-graduate degrees that will make me eligible to serve in academics because what I love most about my profession is teaching it.
Michael with his parents, Mr Chukwuemeka and Mrs Jacinta Ugbogu at his induction on Thursaday
“If I am offered both a clinical role and an academic role, I will go for the academic role. There are also people who are lucky to practice both.
“However I have discovered that to be good academics you must have good clinical backing, and that is why my current mission is to take my internship as seriously as possible so that I can get really familiar with the equipment, the patient care and be ready for the academic opportunity,” he said.
Speaking on the secret behind his success, Uche said that his first-class journey began in earnest when he stopped working towards it and started working towards being a good student.
Uche disclosed that there were semesters his grade didn’t qualify him for a first-class. He said that he began having challenges in his grades after his first semester in 100 level.
“When I entered school, after my first semester in my first year at the Akoka campus of the University before we moved to the College of Medicine, I discovered that I made a first-class score. Although I didn’t really mean to make a first-class then, I did and there and then I decided I wanted to maintain that grade and that when I get to LUTH, I would maintain it.
A semester after that and the next one after that, I didn’t make a first-class grade. “So when my first class journey really started was the day I decided that I was not going to aim for a first-class again.
“It all started with a conversation with one of my roommates in year two during the first semester and I was already doing poorly in my assignments. He was in his final year, and he was in a first-class student in Pharmacy then, and I shared my frustration with him, how I was struggling with my grades, and how I wanted to maintain a first-class, and he said: ‘Don’t aim for a first-class. Put your grades aside and just focus on being a good student.”
“In my school first class starts from 4.5, and when you aim for a first-class, you make permutations that will at least give you that 4.5, and it polarizes your preparations. You will now start targeting some courses and pay less attention to the others. And at the end of the day, the one you focused so much attention on can mess you up.
“All those permutations and combinations can mess up the journey that was what he told me.
“So just focus on being a good student, do not even calculate anything, do not estimate, don’t predict anything. Just keep going to classes, treat these academics as your business. Don’t care about the results that come out, and as soon as I started implementing this, and I left grades alone, at some point, I didn’t even bother to check the effect on my GPA.
“From there, everything was on autopilot, I was giving back good content to my lecturers, I was attending classes, and that was when I saw that it paid off.”
“In a nutshell, it was when I decided to not pursue first-class that first class came,” he added.
Uche added that anyone can make a first-class with hard work, determination and diligence as it is not restricted to a particular family or class of people.
“I believe that irrespective of anybody’s background, you can turn out to be who you want to be whether you come from a good background or a bad one.
“With that said, looking at my own family, I will say that I am from a family of fighters. I won’t say they are smarter than most people, or more talented than everyone else, but one thing I have noticed about my parents and relatives is that there is this fighting spirit, and in times of despair and difficulty, it was that fighting spirit that I have seen my dad exhibit time after time that I have used to cheer myself up and push myself forward. It is what I use to encourage myself; my parents never give up. They have this way of showing that it is not over until it is over, and I just translated that into my academic struggles.
“When it was time to read, when it was time to study, that kept me going. I made sure I did not leave any stones unturned because I had a fighting spirit,” he added.
On his next plan of action, Uche said that he would prefer to accept foreign job career opportunities if offered the same opportunities in Nigeria.
According to him, most foreign countries are so advanced in the use of technology that they will provide better opportunities for advancement.
Uche, who loves to pursue a career in teaching, hinted that he runs a YouTube channel ‘Elevator peach series for the radiographer’, where he devised a way of shortening difficult topics in radiography into less than five minutes videos.
This, he says, is his major contribution to radiography so far; Radiography-education.
“Like I said I am very passionate about academics and to even drive my passion, I know you asked earlier things that contributed to my excelling, I will also like to give credence to my YouTube channel.
“During the pandemic, we were off school for almost a year, I had free time, and like you already know, I really like schoolwork, I really like books. So I was left alone at home to just be reading so much so that I had filled myself with so much information on radiography and I needed an outlet to discharge it. So I developed a YouTube channel; ‘Elevator peach series for the radiographer’.
He said that he would love to do more and if given the opportunity to do that, he will not hesitate to accept it.
“I will go for the foreign opportunity because it will give me the exposure that I need to make my channel more useful.
“For now, the mission I have for that channel is to create a bridge between the developing countries and the developed countries in terms of radiography.
Another reason is that radiography is a technology-driven profession. “What this implies is that the developed countries have gone rely far in what they are doing. Some of the technology they are using there, we do not have it in Nigeria.
“There is a lot of artificial intelligence being integrated in radiography practice. I got to learn a lot of it when I did my project which was on artificial intelligence in radiography.
“These things are still a huge contrast to what is going on in Nigerian practice. So if I have an opportunity, already as an existing radiography educator with my channel, if I have an opportunity to go out there, it will help me learn and deliver even more content to people that are following me down here so that exposure is very important.
“I feel that as a Nigerian, and because both my parents are Nigerians, I feel a sense of responsibility to the Nigerian radiography practice and going out there to learn about these things and to see how it can be scaled and brought here easily would help.
“My choice will always be determined by the kind of service I want to provide to radiographers,” he added.
– Feb. 04, 2022 @ 13:33 GMT |
A.I
Tags: Michael Uche Ugbogu Mr Chukwuemeka Ugbogu UNILAG
