Once I got to Ss2 I already knew I was going to study mechanical engineering. Not because I had an in-depth knowledge of mechanical engineering but because I had come to love physics so much.
In Ss3 I would tell anyone that asked that I would be a mechanical engineer but my mother had other plans for me.
I was thrown off the path of mechanical engineering to study medicine and this was what I wrote my first jamb exam to in 2017.
I scored 223 in that jamb, not because I didn’t read but because for some reason I can’t explain.. I was not meant to be in medicine.
After a long wait, I eventually got admitted into Environmental Management and Toxicology, a course I knew nothing about. Being quite an optimist I had began browsing as far as where I would work, what my salary would be like and lots more just to make being in EMT make sense.
While still in first semester and preparing for my first semester exams, I was advised by a pastor in my church to take jamb again. Of course this is not what I would  have preferred. I didn’t want to be left behind by my friends as I am sure a lot of people can relate with.
Still I took from my clearance money and got jamb form and of course applied to mechanical engineering. I didn’t even tell anyone at home at the time.
The day I registered happened to be two days before registration expired and hence Benin was full I was having to travel to Okada for my examination.
This was the reason I had to call my mother, as being 16 back then and never traveling on my own was a reality for me.
I had less than two weeks to prepare for jamb while still reading for my normal 100lv courses.

To be honest, having 223 in jamb broke my spirit back then and I had a lowkey ptsd for jamb in general.
The day came and after a series of events which should be shared in person, I had 292 in my second jamb.
I then wrote post UTME and  had 75 making my total aggregate fall back to 73 which was perfect to enter mechanical engineering.

I got admission on merit and I was determined to prove to myself and all around me that mechanical was the right place I belonged in. 
I started this with getting a 5.0 in my first semester and I have been on a pursuit for a first class ever since.
I always decided that I would learn the practical aspect of any course I read in the university. Hence when I got to know that I was headed towards the direction of medicine, joined at a pharmacy where I worked for all the months I had between July and March the following year when I resumed EMT.

Hence once I entered engineering, the plan didn’t change. I decided that once I was in 200lv I would start learning to work on cars and that was exactly what I did. The Covid pandemic helped create more time for learning and I resumed school the following year already having basic knowledge about the automobile system.
I have been doing this for years now and it has shaped my life career choice of being an automotive engineer.
Currently I run a business- The Mechanic Next Door where I offer automotive services both to earn a living and because it’s genuinely what I love.

After applying so many times for scholarships from 100lv and not getting it, I had given up that it was not for me until Osaide Foundation came my way. This was my very first scholarship and it has birthed more and I am so grateful to be surrounded by amazing women who are taking up the engineering industry and making beauty out if it.
To the founder, Engr Dr. Patricia Nekpen Opene-Odili, FNSE,FNICE,FNIM

I will be graduating in a few days and I am so grateful for the blessings I received, all the memories I made and I pray Gods guides all of us to prosperity.

Thank you for reading.