Sleepless Nights Pay off for Gold Medallist
Alexander Tua Wise says his determination fuelled his drive to persevere through sleepless nights and limited resources to graduate with a Bachelor of Medical Health Science (BMHS) from the University of Fiji on Friday.
The Vagadaci, Levuka, Ovalau native with maternal links to Motusa, Rotuma, was also awarded a gold medal for being an outstanding student in his programme during the Uni Fiji graduation ceremony at the Saweni, Lautoka campus.
“It’s a two-year degree programme,” he said.
“It’s trimester-based, so it’s kind of intensive. It’s naturally supposed to be a three-or four-year programme, but they shortened it. It was very intense and challenging because I, for one, do not have a phone or a laptop,” he said.
“Sometimes I would use my dad’s laptop to make do with what I have. Apart from that, the pandemic really made me struggle a lot. I didn’t want to continue to give up and didn’t feel useful anymore to pursue an education. I managed to persevere through and I’m glad that I did.
“Through the pandemic I was always at home. I told my parents many times that I wanted to stop, but they told me; ‘No, keep going and remember why you started the
journey.’ My faith in God helped me.”
The twenty-one-year-old urged aspiring Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery (MBBS) students to opt for the BMHS pro
gramme first.
“The idea of bringing in the BMHS programme was to give students a feel of what it’s like to study medicine. A lot of people tend to go into studying MBBS then they realise a few years later that this is not what they want to do,” he said.
“So, a two-year degree programme allows them to have a feel of whether that’s really what they want. And by the end of it, if they really do want to do it, they can pursue postgraduate medicine, which is like MBBS but four years.”
He plans to pursue a postgraduate medical degree or cross-credit to the MBBS programme.
Proud mother Motufaga Wise thanked Uni Fiji for constantly reaching out to her son and other students during the pandemic to enable them to complete their coursework.
“I thank God because I’ve always believed that with God anything is possible,” she said.
“Alex has always been positive despite the challenges like when his laptop got bad, we didn’t have the resources, but he managed his time well and shared resources. It’s so encouraging to see that with such limited resources, he can achieve it,” she said.
Former Principal Education officer West and proud father Albert Wise, dedicated his son’s achievement to God and credited it to divine intervention.
“We are grateful,” he said.
“We did not expect the gold medal and we are humbled for the achievement and to be the first in the family to achieve such a high award in a university. It’s a very significant achievement for us, “he said. Edited