MY 2021 IN 10 PARAGRAPHS

I woke up today after a stressful night reading and checking my phone, I saw that today is the tenth day of the first month of this year. Deeply looking, I thought, this is the first double-digit date of the year. And so far I have been seeing people telling how their year went - the struggles, wins, lessons, etc. So I deemed it fit to share mine here to HIVE'ers in just the same number - 10 - paragraphs. Follow me!

The year 2021 was quite a rollercoaster for me due to so many reasons. There were days where everything went well and there were also days when I felt like giving up. But at the end of the day, I'm glad I made it to the finish line.

Source

I began the year preparing to resume as a second-year student at my university after all academic activities had been previously suspended for almost a year due to the Covid-19 Pandemic that took the world by storm. It took me a while before I could get myself back on track academically because I had problems with reading and assimilating which I believe, as a result of being on an academic break for almost a year. Due to all these, at the end of the first semester, my GP dropped quite a lot. This didn't help my morale at all, as I wasn't used to having this kind of result, but thanks to motivation from my friends, I picked up the pieces and forged ahead.

The second semester came after a two weeks break and I determined that I would do better this time around. I sought out help from intelligent friends and mentors on both academics and life as a whole. I didn't want to make the same mistake as the first semester of not asking for help. The step I took proved effective. Exams came and went. The semester's result was a little better as it went up by 0.06 GP.

Immediately after the semester ended, SWEP began.
The Student Work Experience Program (SWEP) is a program that is organized in Nigerian tertiary institutions mainly for engineering undergraduate students so as to enlighten them on what the engineering field is all about. It is a program designed to begin exploring the contexts of their theoretical knowledge into practical application and experiences. In other words, it provides students with opportunities to apply academic knowledge in real engineering and industrial problems. In my school, it went for a period of 9 weeks. We were divided into groups each attending different locations in the University premises including all the Engineering departments and other technical units in the school such as the Industrial Park Unit (IPU) where research concerning roots and tubers crops is done.

During the SWEP, I enrolled for some courses majorly on Data Analytics, just like I highlighted in my introductory post. One of them is the Learning Data Analytics course on LinkedIn Learning which I posted my completion on LinkedIn.

In retro one of my 2021 new year resolutions is that I had determined to be more active in things around me. I said enough of political and social apathy and YES to active participation. By mid-October, a new session in school started immediately after SWEP was over. It was as if the whole school and the world at large were against engineering students. There was almost no break (or rest). Some of us had no choice but to follow suit while others skipped classes just to give themselves rest.

Now, in my third year, we are now into the core aspect of Mechatronics Engineering and so far it has been quite interesting. I contested for and won the position of Public Relations Officer (P.R.O) of my department's association - Association of Mechatronics Engineering Students' Association. And so far it has been active work and learning on the job and leadership at large. Now, I realize the gravity of work on those in leadership positions; honestly, I would say they are really trying.

Fast forward to November, when the good news got to me. You must be wondering what the good news is. YES! It was the gospel of HIVE. All thanks to my coursemates and HIVE evangelists @starstrings01 and @monioluwa who really did their utmost best to put me through its rudiments. Likewise, I have met with some other fantastic guys who were also my coursemates like @francism @hepziba @chosenfingers @manny-uncharted and others including @heskay @ijohnsen @tkrypt @coderedex @manuel6.

2021! What a great year! Some of my coursemates can attest to the fact that we had just 2 weeks of official break from school which equates to the fact that we spent more than whoopi95% of that year in school. I learned a lot of lessons that I know will really help me overcome hurdles in the new year. It was really an all-around engaging year but all glory be to the Almighty for the grace and strength to persevere throughout.