My University Encounters & Lessons Learnt over 6 years

Over the six years I have spent in school, there have been lots of lessons I have learnt. Some were from my own personal life. Others from the people closest to me and also some from people I have been observing from afar.

In the couple of days ahead of me, as I reminisce my life over the past six years, I will be sharing with you some of these experiences and the lessons that I learnt from it.

I don’t know who needs to hear, see or read them but I hope that at least someone some where will be inspired to dream and do more based on the lessons that I share.

The University Encounter: Lesson #1

I remember how it felt that Thursday afternoon when a friend of mine Jeffrey Kyle Ganye (a geological engineer now) called me to inform me about my admission into the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

It was all joy when I got to confirm that I was going to offer the 6-year Doctor of Pharmacy degree programme. In making preparations, I was so anxious and wanting to get everything perfectly right, I started searching for people who could give me gist on how life in KNUST was like.

I spoked to my big man Douglas Armah, who had completed his study in Bsc. Chemistry at KNUST. I spoke to a couple of friends (as in SHS classmates of mine and seniors as well) who were already in the university.

One of the main things I sort after was to get in touch with a pharmacy student to tell me about the programme. With the help of Isaac Obiri, one good friend, I got in touch with one and it really helped me.

Fast forward to today, most of the advise that I got were worth my time, and I am glad I chose to go ask them about it.

#LessonLearnt: Preparation towards any journey is keen. Therefore, do a good research, talk to people, find out as much as you can about the things you want to do or places you want to go to before you even set off

.#MyGratitude: I want to appreciate the above mentioned names and; Stephen Adjei, Michael Kwame, Nana Kusi Kofi (Pharm D) and the many more people I can’t enlist now.

The university Encounter: Lesson #2

The time came for us to report to school. Unfortunately, I hadn’t traveled to Kumasi before and I was wondering how I would get there without getting loss.

I therefore decided to try and reach out to other people who were also reporting to school that same day. Through word of mouth, I was able to reach about 11 other people who decided to join me.

The fact was that almost all 12 of us had not gone to that campus before. I spoke to my uncle about it and he got us a car to convey us to school.Some of them trusted me enough to even move and come stay with me overnight so we could start the journey at dawn.

The advantage we got from coming to school together included;

1. Reduced total cost of transportation

2. No long hustle to get to campus, the car brought us straight to our halls

3. We made new friends etc

Because of what I did, all these people became close friends and throughout my stay in school, each one of them helped me out anytime I needed some sort of help.

#LessonLearnt: You may not be the only one going through a particular problem. So, any time you look for a solution, think about others because a solution which is relevant to others may be your beginning to greatness.

#Mygratitude: I appreciate all the people who believed in me and joined me on that journey I organized;

• Andrews Ackah,
• Thomas Somiah Cudjoe
• Pasty Asamoah
• Anna Cobbold
• Frederick Yankey
• John Acquah
• Bernard Parker
• Louis Yankey
• Samuel Dzivenu Jah-Bless
• Ridout Quaicoe
• James Blay

The university encounter: Lesson #3

In school, one key thing was the fact that I was going to be staying in the same room with totally strange people.

I was fortunate to be in the room with a very good friend (Thomas Somiah Cudjoe) and 2 others.

I was the only Pharmacy student among 2 engineering students (geological engineering and civil engineering) and 1 actuarial science student.

What I aimed at the most was to be able to leave peacefully with everyone there. It’s unfortunate that from the beginning, our other roommates didn’t feel very comfortable about having 2 Nzemas (Somiah and Myself) as roommates. But they later came to realization that they had a wrong perception about us.

We enjoyed every bit of our stay together even though we had some few challenges with one another one time or the other.

One of our roommates, Christian Boakye popularly known as Chris B was a very good cook and very generous enough. There were times that I was in need in terms of what to eat and the likes, he was there to help in those times.

I am very grateful to him for his help.He is now the CEO of #Pizzaman Gh on KNUST campus and I am glad he has followed his passion. To show me some love, do pass by Pizzaman and #ChickenMan to fix yourself any time you are around KNUST and you won’t be disappointed.

#LessonLearnt: Be good to any one at any time because you never know where you will meet them again. Also, learn to live at peace with everyone around you, they may be of help to you some day.

#Mygratitude: To my 3 roommates

• Thomas Somiah Cudjoe
• Christian Boakye
• Frank Awuah

The university encounter: Lesson #4

First week in the faculty of pharmacy began with lots of registration stuffs.I almost got lost trying to locate the faculty, so I decided to ask someone for direction. This person who I now guess was also a fresher, ended up directing me somewhere else even though we were just standing in front of the faculty. Oh my God! Imagine how I felt when I found out.

Before I continue, let me tell you a little about myself. I am introverted and find it difficult making friends or striking conversations with strangers.It was therefore challenging for me to go out of my way to make new friends.

God being so good I met an old friend, Nancy Nanette Afotey (I have a lot to tell about her in subsequent lessons, so watch out. I promise to also do a throw back on how we became friends).

She also introduced me to some of her friends who subsequently became good friends of mine.

Two other friends that I made in my early days in the faculty were Robert Atta Nyarko, who happened to be seated next to me during our orientation and Joseph Sarpong Agyapong who was made the group leader of my sub group.

These individuals have made greater impacts on me during these 6 years and I will throw more lights on them soon.I completed these 6 years with all

#LessonLearnt: Good friends are a refreshment to the soul. They may come through for you when all hope is lost so make some while you can.

#Mygratitude: To all my friends out there, I want to say a very big thank you for being there for me. Say hi and let me appreciate you if you’re a friend

The university encounter: Lesson #5

The first few weeks in the faculty of pharmacy were quite tough for me. We had lectures from 8:00am to 5:00pm. After which I had assignments or lab reports to work on. Being a perfectionist sort of, I always spent almost all my time on my lab reports.

Unfortunately, the marks I was scoring wasn’t that great.I also had to prepare for lab quizzes almost every morning. I was reading 6 courses with 4 of them having lab sessions. A lab session always began with a quiz and I spent a lot of time preparing towards them.

There is this particular quiz we call posology (any pharmacy student can relate). I was scoring mostly 2 or 4 in the quiz with my highest mark for the 1st semester being 6/10.

It was really hard on me to an extent that I used to cry sometimes because I was doing all could but not yielding the desired result.

It got so bad that I felt I wasn’t competent for the course. I thought about stopping the course at point, so I called one boss of mine (Pharm. Clement C. Blay ) who encouraged me on, assuring me of better days ahead if I stuck to it.

I also spoke to my elder brother, Mr. Naami Felix Ehoneah, who also calmed me and encouraged me on.Fast forward to later in the programme, I was one of the well performing students in the class (not to boast).

#LessonLearnt: Sometimes it takes people who have been there before to push you on. Don’t give up yet, the beginning will not necessarily determine the end. Speak to people and get their thoughts too.

#MyGratitude: I’m forever grateful to Clement Clinton Blay and Felix Ehoneah Naami, because of them I didn’t give up.

To be continued. Join my newsletter for updates and sharing of more experiences.