Keep Pushing Forward

[su_boxbox title=”About”]Hello! My name is Barakat Oyiza Abubakar. I am a 14 year old girl from a family of 6. I live with my mum and 5 siblings in Abuja, Nigeria. I am currently in SS2 at Government Secondary School, Kubwa.[/su_boxbox]

Life as a science student is very intriguing as it is full of untold drama especially as a black female student. The challenges I experience are quite numerous but I will highlight a few here: i) lack of encouragement and support from the society we live in, especially because I am a female student; ii) lack of a conducive environment for learning as there is the absence of facilities and raw materials to carry out experiments; and iii) the case of unhealthy competition from male students. 

Despite these challenges, I have been able to succeed. My successes are quite small but they have made me confident, strong-willed and determined to achieve more. I was admitted to the science department on probation – despite my good grades – but I was able to scale through and finally got accepted. Second was winning the Over-all Best student of the Visiola Foundation Stem Summer Camp 2017.

Barakat Oyiza Abubakar

My failures have been somewhat uneventful but nonetheless informing. For example, during this one occasion, I built a website and was all prepared to present it to an audience. However, I managed to forget to write down notes for my presentation. As such, I had to present it entirely from memory while my partner took charge of controlling our presentation slides. Ultimately, the presentation was a big failure. As I look back, I have on occasion failed to bring out the very best in me and have actually felt like my dreams and aspirations were useless.

The most surprising moment came when I won the over-all best student in the Visiola Foundation After- school STEM Clubs for Girls program and the 2017 STEM Summer Camp. I was also actually quite amazed as I built structures to generate electricity using renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydro.

My future aspirations are to become a trauma surgeon, move Africa forward technologically through my inventions, and to be able to compete and be better than top scientists in the world. I found the  environment at Visiola Foundation very enabling. I want to use this opportunity to encourage all other female science students out there that they can do better than they are doing right now.

I would tell other girls that no matter the situation and obstacles you are facing, we will all get to the top through our courage, determination and will-power. Don’t take ‘No’ for an answer. Keep pushing forward. 

Learn more about the Visiola Foundation STEM Summer Camp for Teenage Girls

Cover Image from Pixabay by John Hain | Pixabay License