The best graduating law student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 2023, Temitope Ogunsanwo, has opened up on what she did to bag a first-class honours.
She graduated with cumulative grade point average of 4.82 out of 5.0 and said that was only possible due to her focus, dedication and personal sacrifice.
The young lady said she had to avoid social activites and frequently read late at night because she decided to pursue excellence in her academics.
In her words; “I got 4.82 out of 5.0 and I am the best-graduating student with the highest CGPA ever recorded in the Faculty of Law.
God crowned all of my efforts with success because I got to the university with the mindset to strive for excellence and I am working hard at that, and achieving this is like a pat on my back that I have done so well.
I will not say it was easy coming out with a first-class (degree) and graduating as the overall best student. It involved a lot of effort, time, and putting myself through stress intentionally, where I had to do certain things that could have been avoided because I decided to pursue excellence in my academics.
I also cut off from a lot of social activities. I missed out on many extracurricular activities at some points during examinations and I did a lot of late-night reading. There were instances when I felt that I worked hard enough and maybe the point (grade point average) I got probably did not show the hard work but I persevered through that. So, I think part of the process was to have the resilience to get past challenges that I faced in the course of my academic journey.
I remember getting good grades and not getting good grades in primary school. It’s been a mix but in senior secondary, I got more serious and more consistent, and I graduated as the best pupil. So, I had that mindset of trying to beat my records.
So, I’m not competing with other people but with myself. When I got to the university, I realised that being the best pupil in secondary school does not imply that one would necessarily be good because the level of hard work for excellence required in the university is a lot more than what is required in secondary school and I am happy that I was able to do that at the university.”