Inspirational journey but not always smooth, says Ridzwan

By Nurin Najmina Zaidi

GOMBAK, 13 March 2022: Muhammad Ridzwan bin Md Tahir, the recipient of the President’s Award, described his undergraduate journey as inspirational but not always smooth.

He shared that his study in IIUM was challenging, fun, memorable but exciting as he could join different societies and programmes from different kulliyyah, where he met new people, made friends and learned from their experiences.

Muhammad Ridzwan, who is from Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences (KENMS), told IIUMToday that he did not expect to receive this award as he knew that the criteria set for the President’s Award are quite high.

“Sometimes our best effort might not yield the best result, but for me, it’s good enough because I wouldn’t have any regrets later.

“Nevertheless, I am happy and proud to receive this award because I could share it with my mom and siblings, and hopefully it can inspire other people to go for it as well,” he said on winning the award.

He received the award at the first session of IIUM’s 37th Convocation ceremony on Saturday (12 March).

The graduand also shared that he was grateful to have had the chance to interact with lecturers frequently and was glad that he could make friends with some of them.

“There were even times when I was touched by their kindness and support towards the students,” he said.

His inspiration to study came from the fact that he is not coming from a wealthy family.

“Since my early childhood, my family had financial problems and thus I took my study seriously because I wanted to contribute back to my family and those who had helped me to reach this point.”

Asked to share his success experience, his advice to the students is to always be kind to their friends, lecturers, and family because he believed that “there will be barakah in whatever we do if we appreciate the good deeds of these people”.

“Always give our best. Because we will never know our full potential unless we give it a try,” he added.

Ridzwan also encouraged the students to take the opportunity while being in IIUM to improve their knowledge, enhance their technical and soft skills, and be better Muslims.

Sharing his own experience in the student council, he further stated that the time invested to pursue this goal will make us be more thankful to ourselves in the future.

On his next plan, he shared his intention to further his studies for masters as he is currently working on it with his friends while doing part-time job teaching Quran and Islamic Studies.

The President’s Award is given to any student with an excellent performance in both academic and co-curricular activities at the international level.***

Leave a Reply