A 24-year-old graduate of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Sumayyah Abdallah, has emerged best-graduating medical student for the 2022/2023 academic session and bagged twenty-three awards.
Sumayyah was awarded with plaques and cash prizes at the medical students’ induction held at the university’s auditorium on Saturday, December 9.
Speaking, the best graduating student recalled how about 140 students started the academic journey in 2015 but only 79 were inducted into the medical profession as graduates.
The mother of one, who hailed from Agaie, Niger State, spent eight years on her medical journey which started in 2015. The best graduating student was decorated with different prizes, for her academic success, including plaques and over four hundred thousand naira (N400,000) at the induction.
According to Sumayyah, she got married in 2021 immediately after 400-level and gave birth about 3 weeks away to her 500-level examinations.
“Marriage affected my studies positively, it gave me more motivation and determination than ever. It made me more focused on achieving my goals,” said Sumayyah.
For students pursuing a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, or MBBS, grades are used to measure their performance, not Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). Sumayyah said she had so many good grades that made her deserved the feat.
While expressing her excitement about the achievement, she said, “Alhamdulillah, I feel really happy, seeing the smiles on my parents’ faces and their tears of joy is the most satisfying feeling in the whole wide world.”
Continuing, the best medical graduate recalled how she managed her marriage life with her academic pursuit, adding that she wrote many tests in a hospital bed in her fourth year.
“I faced challenges but challenges are part of life, and we are not as perfect as the picture you see, I was scared at some point in time,” she said.
Sumayyah added that having a baby in medical school, especially carrying the 9 months pregnant, and taking care of the child after delivery was a strenuous experience.
“Thanks to my husband and my little Zayd too, we went through it all together.”
She, however, enjoined undergraduate students who are determined to attain such academic feats to stay humble, focused and avoid too many friends.
“What is worth doing is worth doing well. Most importantly, pray as if you’ve never read anything and read as if you’ve never prayed,” enjoined Sumayya.
. TheWitness
