And the winner is......HSCP #4.

One of the events of my school days that I can undoubtedly refer to as a win in my academics occurred while I was in Senior School One. You can imagine the thrill of becoming a senior student after years of being a junior student.

The thrill came with many perks like an upgrade in our uniforms, from pinafore to skirt and shirt. It also came with an upgrade to our classrooms and our class activity. Some boring subjects studied in junior school were dropped and new subjects like Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Geography and many foreign names were on our timetable.

I was very excited stepping into this new threshold. I couldn't wait to begin my new lessons but things changed when algebra in Mathematica became so complex that I usually spaced out during classes. My favorite subject then became Chemistry. I loved the concept of making things change its shape and form and so, it was without a doubt that mid way into the term, a competition was held by our chemistry teacher.

It was supposed to be an interclass competition but for time constraints, he made students of each class compete against themselves. Five students were chosen from my class and our task was simple. We were to present to the class on the solar system. My chemistry teacher urged us to do our research and in two days time, he would come to our class to listen to our presentations.

It felt surreal to me and I was a bit anxious but I took his advice and used every free period to visit the library. I studied encyclopedias that wrote about the solar system and merged my information with those I got from several textbooks. I am not kidding guys, I researched eight different textbooks right there in the library. You would think I was studying for Olympics, hehe.

Two days passed swiftly and it was the day for my class to present. My chemistry teacher was right on time and we were each given 20 minutes to present. I was literally shaking in my boots. My nervousness was so much that I opted to be the last to present. I didn't know what the others had up their sleeves but I won't be the first to fail, so to speak.

I watched my classmates step out and give their presentations,using minimal time because all they did was talk about the nine planets blah, blah, blah. This was something we all knew. There was nothing different in what they were presenting and then it hit me that my research paid off. I spied my notes and saw all the points I had itemized and that helped relax my nerves.

No

As the last to present, I stepped in front of the class, observed all protocols and started my presentation. Initially, the butterflies in my belly were radical but soon, I began to ease into what I had studied and the presentation flowed easily. I had the attention of my classmates and I could sight my teacher from my peripheral, nodding his head and that egged me on.

I knew that my presentation would win because I had done in-depth research on all the planetary bodies, listing the gases found on each planet and stating emphatically why Earth remains the only planet that can sustain life. When I concluded, I knew that I would win the cash prize of five hundred naira but I still humbly went to my seat, allowing my teacher to call the results.

The results were called in the order of presentation and when my name and score was called out, the whole class erupted in applause. I felt giddy with happiness at being the winner . My effort paid off.

To celebrate, I took the money and bought some buns from our snack vendors for everyone in my class and I still had enough change to splurge on myself after school hours. I was proud of this achievement because it was this win that gave me a boost as I faced my academics knowing that I would be proficient in it.

I learnt from this that no effort is a waste and it always pays off in the end.

Thank you for reading my experience. It was a pleasure sharing this with you all.

Images are mine.