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| OLUWAYINKA DADA |
There are many students from different countries in the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in the United States that graduated this year, but a Nigerian, Uwa Osamede Imafidon stood out with the highest Cumulative Grade point Average (CGPA) of 4.0 from the maximum of 4.0.
This was really a rare feat made by a Nigerian, at an institution founded in 1895, which initially served primarily as a military academy during the early 20th century.
According to the school’s record, it was after spending several decades in the Texas A&M University System, that the institution joined the University of Texas System in 1965.
In the fall of 2010, UT Arlington reached a student population of 32,956, a gain of 31 per cent from autumn 2008, and is currently the second-largest institution within the UT System.
Imafidon, born 24 years ago, precisely November 1, 1988, to Mrs Bose Imafidon and Mr Nosa Imafidon, before her tertiary education, initially wanted to study medicine, but she eventually got admitted to University of Benin (UNIBEN) to study Crop Science.
Her childhood dream was to become a medical doctor, attending to humans in the hospital, but, upon applying to UNIBEN to study Medicine, she was instead accepted into the university to study Crop Science. What an irony!
Despite this, she wasn’t deterred, though she made an attempt to change her course of study to Microbiology, but it later turned out to be a futile effort.
Perhaps Imafidon had been destined to study the course she was admitted for, because the Microbiology Department had actually accepted her request to further her course with the department, but it didn’t eventually work out, consequently, she went back to the department of Crop Science.
But she didn’t stop there; rather, she enrolled for another Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination for the second time, and later the post University Matriculation Examination (UME) of the university.
She passed the examination, but again, unfortunately, she was two marks short of the cut off point for Medicine.Imafidon scored 138 of 140 cut off mark. Surprisingly and shockingly, when she got her admission letter for the second time, she was given the same Crop Science.
She accepted it and decided to do well in whatever she studied, as she was taught. Her efforts were rewarded and she graduated with a First Class degree with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.52 and this made her bag the Best Graduating Student award in the Department of Crop Science, in 2010.
One good thing to note is that Imafidon never gave up on her dream having failed twice, she studied hard and it eventually paid off at the end of her years of study in the University of Benin , where she graduated with a first class degree.
As a mark of her determination, she later travelled to the United States to further her education in the sciences at The University of Texas at Arlington, where she graduated with her Masters degree in Microbiology with a 4.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
She still plans to further her education in Microbiology at the Ph.D level, so that she can begin a lifelong career in research.
source: Tribune
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