My dream is to create a world where youths will have access to quality education, and pursue their dreams.
7 years ago, I graduated from high school, and like most students from Cameroon, I wasn’t focused and determined about what I wanted to study. So I went on to write professional entrance examinations into the country’s finest institutes, which all focused on completely unique professions, one being medicine, the other engineering, civil engineering, law, and so on. The idea was which ever exam turned out successful, I would go on to study whatever that institute had to offer. And that’s just because like most high school students, I wasn’t properly counseled by an educational counselor on career options to help me plan way ahead of time. So with the paucity of time, I had to try out every option and hope for the best. Then I took a decision when all this didn’t work out, to visit an educational counselor and have access to educational services like libraries specifically set up with opportunities to further one’s education internationally. With every effort I put in, I ended up winning a fully-funded scholarship to study medicine out of my home country for the entire duration of the course. It took me a year after graduating from high school to get realize what was best for me, and get this scholarship. Since then, I have returned home yearly and visited many high schools right about the time their students are about to graduate to let them know they have many educational services at their disposal to help them pursue their actual dreams in a tertiary educational institution. I just believe no student should have to go through what I went through before realizing exactly what it is they really want. They could have a smooth transition from high school into a university of their choice to study what they really find passion in.
In the long-run, I’m looking at advocating for educational counselors in all high schools so that every high student has a more successful way of approaching life after high school. The only way we can help our nation, continent, and world is if every citizen or person actually transitions into the working population, doing what they love doing best and not what they’re being forced to do. This is how we will keep moving forward for the better.
Ernest C. Niba