By Maryam Spahic
Does winning three awards simultaneously sound a little too surreal for you? Well, its not. For NurAina binti Abu Hassan Shaari, she has proven that with determination anything is possible.
On Saturday, 11 October 2014, not only did she walk up the stage in the Cultural Activity Centre to receive her graduation scroll from IIUM Mentor Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin but she also received the Best Student (Overall) Â Award for Kuliyyah of Pharmacy and the Book Prize Award. She was also the recipient of the prestigious Rectors Award normally given to students who excelled in academic as well as making national achievements in co-curricular activities.
To Aina, the awards she received were a very pleasant surprise as she had not expected them and only got to find out about them the day she went to IIUM to collect her robe.
The third child of six siblings, Aina graduated from the Kuliyyah of Pharmacy at the age of 23. She was inspired to get on the path of pharmacy when the pharmacist profession was introduced to her by her beloved mother when she was in high school. One of the factors that helped her to confidently major in Pharmacy was the fact that it was parallel to her noble dream of working in hospitals to treat the sick.
Aina admitted that, just like most people, she cannot spend too long at her study-table facing her books. According to her, œThe most that I can spend for studying is about three hours but I will make sure the three hours are optimised.
œI would usually use my weekends to join programmes, relax or go out with my friends but I would still allocate the time for assignments and revisions, she added.
Clearly, Aina does not allow procrastination get to her in order to be able to have fun with family and friends as well as to excel in studies.
Among the challenges for Aina as a student, she admitted, were the burden of assignments, lab reports and projects. œIt can be overwhelming at times, she claimed.
Throughout her degree years, she grabbed the opportunity to compete in co-curricular activities such as National Pharmacy Quiz, National Clinical Pharmacy Competition as well as many other programmes hosted by her kuliyyah.
As of now, Aina plans to work at a government hospital for about 2 years to obtain experience as well as a pharmacists license before furthering her studies.
Ainas tip for success is to constantly renew ones intention (niyyah). œBeing honest and sincere are the keys, other than putting the right amount of effort, she advised. Also, she claimed that having her parents as motivation to work hard and succeed has really helped her get to where she is today.
œMost importantly, do your best in your studies as a sign to show your gratitude and gratefulness to the One who has given you everything in this life, she added.
Photo by Shazni Ong