THE UNBELIEVABLE FEAT

BY MACAULAY, BABAJIDE MILTON

 

I arrived at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich, United Kingdom, on the 18^th September 2012, through the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship and as usual, expected to graduate excellently after the one-year MSc study in Sustainable Environmental Management.


 

Three months later, I was utterly disappointed by the results for the modules I took in term 1. The writing style and the marking scheme were alien to me. I made an emphatic effort to improve but my scores kept hovering around a fixed boundary (between 65 and 68). It appeared so impossible to cross over to the 70s. At some point, I thought my lecturers treated me unfairly because I am black! Although, I must point out here that even the Caucasians amongst us experienced the same challenge.

There were about 12 students in my department offering different modules. Among them were 7 Commonwealth scholars (including myself) from Nigeria (2), Ghana (4) and Pakistan (1). Let’s assume I wasn’t working hard enough; What about other brilliant scholars studying with me? They also faced a similar fate which ruled out the possibility that my efforts were weak.

I never gave up! I kept hope alive and worked as hard as I could. I hardly had time for myself whilst some friends and loved ones were angry with me for not keeping in touch without knowing what I was passing through. After the results of all coursework were released at the end of term 3 (July, 2013), I was shattered and devastated! I needed the average score of 70 to make a distinction but sadly, I had an average of 64.5. I thought I had fallen out of favour with God! I had 50s in my academic essays, a potential strength I thought I possessed.

I picked up myself and looked at the last task I had (MSc Project) before the herculean journey would come to an end. I said to myself, ‘Even if I don’t make a distinction, I want to carry out a mind-blowing MSc project, one that would live after me’ then I started working as hard as I could. Through divine inspiration, I developed a novel oil spill cleaning mechanism in my project and never missed a meeting with my project supervisor (Dr. Deborah Rees - a wonderful woman).

The novel Bioslurping-Biosparging Technology for the cleaning of oil spills in the vadose and groundwater zones

Macaulay and Dr. Deborah Rees at the NRI, University of Greenwich, Medway campus, UK (September, 2013).

On the 12^th September 2013, my programme leader (Dr. Peter Burt) sent for me. On getting to his office, he told me that I had been awarded a Distinction! I was completely speechless! He said I scored 76 in my project which made my average leap to 68.5 (approximately 69). During the Progression and Award Board (PAB) meeting, the members decided to compensate my efforts with a Distinction! The last time the department produced an MSc Distinction student was in 2010.

Macaulay and Dr. Peter Burt at the NRI, University of Greenwich, Medway campus, Kent, UK (September, 2013).

 

I was yet to recover from the great news when he added another. “This year, we have decided to start a new award for the Best MSc thesis. I am happy to inform you that you are the pioneer recipient of the award. Congratulations!”, he said in excitement. Immediately, I was interviewed by a young woman who asked me a whole lot of questions about myself (where I grew up and what my life plans are) and ended up taking my picture with a signed consent of course.

The Best MSc thesis Award certificate

How I became an instant celebrity is still unbelievable to me. How could I have achieved such a beautiful feat without the help of God? I thought His grace had left me but today, I need no soothsayer to tell me I was very wrong! Actually, His grace just doubled in my life and this is just the beginning!!!

Macaulay's Award-winning MSc thesis

Lessons learnt:

(1) Never give up!

(2) Grace will always find the diligent!