I am Priscilla Eniola Fatokun. Everyone calls me Eniola. I am Oyo, Nigeria, and I am 17 years old. When I was younger, I always thought I would end up with a career in the medical line. Watching my parents run their hospital, I was sure I wanted a job that involved taking care of people and making them feel better, and in my opinion, you could only do this as a doctor or a nurse. Whenever someone asked me what I wanted to become in the future, my response would always be a pediatrician - what better job than one where you take care of children. I thought I had it all figured out. As I grew older, I became more open-minded to the different career opportunities. After four years of intense physics, chemistry, and biology classes and assessments in high school, it was time to apply to colleges and fill in a major. I had paid so much attention to having good grades that I never took some time to analyze my career goal. I concentrated on my results alone till my SAT result was released, and the next step was to pick a college and a major. Suddenly, I found myself in the category of people with undecided majors. After some weeks of analysis, brainstorming, and talking to my siblings, who had graduated from college, I decided I will study computer science. Whenever I tell people I am majoring in computer science, they would always say, “I thought you wanted to follow your parents.” I had imagined that I would have a major in a science-based course and a minor in computer science so, this did not seem like a change to me. I am presently a freshman at Claflin University, and every program I have developed so far has validated my decision to study computer science. I love programming. I try to build my programming skills outside of the classroom. In my spare time, I developed a program called ice cream switches. This program was for customers at an ice cream shop. Once a customer walks into the store, it displays a welcome message. Then they would have to pick an ice cream flavor. After this, they decide on what topping they wanted. When the customer’s input was not in my program, a message saying “please try ordering again” would come up. I have developed several other programs like this, and the results are always satisfying.

I am Priscilla Eniola Fatokun. Everyone calls me Eniola. I am Oyo, Nigeria, and I am 17 years old. When I was younger, I always thought I would end up with a career in the medical line. Watching my parents run their hospital, I was sure I wanted a job that involved taking care of people and making them feel better, and in my opinion, you could only do this as a doctor or a nurse. Whenever someone asked me what I wanted to become in the future, my response would always be a pediatrician - what better job than one where you take care of children. I thought I had it all figured out. As I grew older, I became more open-minded to the different career opportunities. After four years of intense physics, chemistry, and biology classes and assessments in high school, it was time to apply to colleges and fill in a major. I had paid so much attention to having good grades that I never took some time to analyze my career goal. I concentrated on my results alone till my SAT result was released, and the next step was to pick a college and a major. Suddenly, I found myself in the category of people with undecided majors. After some weeks of analysis, brainstorming, and talking to my siblings, who had graduated from college, I decided I will study computer science. Whenever I tell people I am majoring in computer science, they would always say, “I thought you wanted to follow your parents.” I had imagined that I would have a major in a science-based course and a minor in computer science so, this did not seem like a change to me. I am presently a freshman at Claflin University, and every program I have developed so far has validated my decision to study computer science. I love programming. I try to build my programming skills outside of the classroom. In my spare time, I developed a program called ice cream switches. This program was for customers at an ice cream shop. Once a customer walks into the store, it displays a welcome message. Then they would have to pick an ice cream flavor. After this, they decide on what topping they wanted. When the customer’s input was not in my program, a message saying “please try ordering again” would come up. I have developed several other programs like this, and the results are always satisfying.

The competition class was exhausting. Hours and hours of extra classes, extra assignments, extra reading, extra tests, and fewer free periods. Even with this knowledge, every student still wants to be a part of it. Everyone wants to be known as being part of the students that wait behind after school for classes and go out to represent the school. Everyone wants to be known as smart. Happily, I had gotten through the first stage of the selection tests. Yes, of course, that made me happy, but the work had just started. It was time to have my taste and input of determination and persistence. Classes started almost immediately. A subject per day and we shuffled between Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics. Though I had to stop my debate classes, it seemed a little a hard decision for me. I had been in debate class for years now, and I have learned enough to keep me going. I had to give up my summer break to stay back in school for classes. Moreover, the classes were longer compared to normal school days, and we even closed later than usual. The teachers made it more difficult by not providing explicit explanations and also they never took their time to explain concepts but spoke as if they were having a rap battle. So, to get the important information stated, you’d have to pay rapt attention at all times. After a week, it fagged me: tired of the reading, tired of getting very little sleep, tired of the many assignments, and tired of the very long hours spent in class. Sadly, none of my usual friends made it past the first selection test. So, I was stuck with another assignment, making new friends. This task didn’t take too long because I tried my possible best to be open-minded to everyone. The friends I made also informed me that they were also getting stressed out. Just this information made me a little more relaxed; I felt less like an outsider amid Einsteins. After the summer classes, we had a week break, and that was a very little amount of time to rest for all the work we had done. Then, the school officially resumed in September. Once again, I had to combine my normal school work with my competition classwork. It was draining. In addition to all of that, I still had to perform my duty as a sports prefect. Three weeks passed and my body was not fully accustomed to all the stress and pressure it was undergoing. Countless times, I forgot to do a particular assignment, either from my normal classes or my extra classes. On a particular Saturday, I even forgot to get the girls out of the hostel for morning sports. This was when I decided I was fed up. I called my parents to talk to them about how I felt. The day after my call, my parents showed up in school. They encouraged me on the advantages I could get out of the classes. That little pep talk was all the push I needed to keep me going. The next day, I drew up a timetable to aid my remembrance. It didn’t get easy, but I was determined to succeed. The final selection test was days away. I read day and night before the test day. When the results came out after the test, I didn’t qualify. I wasn’t hurt one bit. I felt this way because I knew I had gained so much from the classes, enough to get me through till I graduated. What I had been taught in the competition class was being taught in normal classes, it became a walkover for me. I spent my free time teaching my friends in whatever aspect they had challenges. Though, I know I could have gained more if I remained in the classes but, from my experience, I realized there could be the next time and all I needed was determination and persistence. That I had learned; that was enough to keep me going.