#BNCampusSeries: Rukayat Overcame Negative Peer Pressure To Achieve a 4.0 GPA

Editor’s note: For the next 3 months, we’ll accept and publish students’ experiences on Nigerian campuses through the #BNCampusSeries. Beyond the four walls of the classrooms, so many things happen on campus, and our goal is to document the various aspects of this phase. The BellaNaija Campus stories will explore academics, finances, love, school anxiety, mental wellness, relationships, and everything in between, and we invite you to be a part of our effort to share the diverse experiences of campus life.

Today, Rukayat Fatai, a student of Adekunle Ajasin University is sharing her story with us. She tells us how being involved in a circle of bad friends almost ruined her grades before she had a rethink and bounced back. She has realised her mistakes and is currently on the path to improving. 

Gaining admission into the university is a thing of joy for many students and my case is not so different. My only pinch of sadness was that I couldn’t get into the school I wanted because the school did not have my course of interest. I ended up in Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State and it has been a journey of lessons. As a bright student that I was, the admission process – exams, screenings and others – was super easy. I was ready to take on the new challenge.

I was so excited about entering a world without any limits that I completely forgot that, just a few months ago, I was wearing a uniform as a secondary school student. Time passes so fast and I could not wait to move ahead with it. As someone who spent most of her life within my state – except for a school excursion when I was the winner of the National French Drama Competition in the Benin Republic – I was ready to meet new people, make new friends and find a balance in a new environment. Despite being a loquacious person, I never had the chance to experience a lot and share thoughts with people.

When I arrived at school, I encountered many people, but unfortunately, I found myself stuck among those who were not particularly helpful. As the saying goes, “Even the best fruit will spoil if surrounded by rotten ones.” I’m not saying my peers were rotten, but I did not find myself among the best cliques. As a new person in the system, I was too trusting, and my lack of experience made me nonchalant.

Remember, I didn’t have much opportunity to talk about myself at home, so I started opening up more to my friends. At first, it was just a group of three, turned four, then five, and the number kept growing. I didn’t like it but I couldn’t be the only one complaining. I tried convincing myself that it didn’t matter; they were just my friends and life can be unpredictable. Looking back, those excuses make me cringe.

I didn’t want to admit that we were on different paths. They were all so much alike that I sometimes felt like an outcast. I know you think I should have stayed away at that point, I agree, but they were my first set of friends and who knows what other people are made of?

That was how I kept motivating myself the wrong way until I wasted a semester and had poor grades. The result wasn’t that bad; I just ended up below 4 points and I was disappointed. As a brilliant student, I was not hoping for my first semester results to be so low. I would have turned things around in the second semester but I ended up in a relationship with one of those friends, and things got rocky. He was a chronic cheat and I still wasn’t out of that group.

The school didn’t release our results until the exam period of the second semester and that was when I knew I had to do better. I mean, the second semester was topped with some nonchalant attitude towards academics too. I wasn’t the exact good friend for everyone because I also had my flaws but if I was bent on getting better, I should have done what would help and that was what I did the next semester that got me into 4 points.

I realised the importance of distancing myself during the second semester when the school held back our results until the exam period. I realised that I needed to get out of the circle and focus on improving myself. I know I have my flaws as a human, but there are some circles I shouldn’t be found in. So, during the next semester, I made the necessary changes that helped me achieve a 4.0 GPA.

Every human is unique but for every circle you think you might find yourself, or for every friendship you might want to make, finding out if it matches your purpose should come first.