ScholarX: A decision that made all the difference
As a Sri Lankan student, I’ve been fed with a lot of myths about higher education and the life after ever since my initiation to the Advanced Level examination. One of the most circulated is that “when you finish your A/L and when you get selected to university education, it all starts to smoothen up and you will eventually end up with a good career. A BETTER LIFE!” Well, that was ten years ago, and I was naive enough to believe it. So I finished my A/Ls, grabbing the opportunity to get selected into any degree program I wanted. Following the norm, I chose Engineering. As a student who just finished school education, I had no idea what I signed up for. I stepped into the most turbulent four years of my life, not having a single clue about what’s coming in the future. The real game began and I just played ball. UNTIL…
…the end of my third year of Engineering. I had to decide what my career should be. What things this decision had to do with my life? I’d say EVERYTHING. I had to carefully choose something I can fall in love with, something I had a passion for, and something I can really perform and not get bored with. I wanted my future to be interesting. I chose academia. For someone who chose academia as the future, I knew I was quite late. And I had little to no exposure to how that would be. Where would this decision take me to? What would this decision bring to my life? Putting a firm thought to learn and evolve as I go, I chose to walk down the path.
Long story short, I graduated in 2020. I had a glance at the research and academia through the final year project and I joined a research group in the same department I studied in and I was planning my future, bit by bit when a global pandemic decided to hit our shores. It came unannounced and my plans were immediately posed because none of us no longer had any idea what our future holds. All I could do is to keep in touch, just scratching the surface. Things started to get better somehow and the BEST thing happened in May 2021.
I GOT ACCEPTED TO ScholarX CLASS OF 2021!!!!!!!
Applying for ScholarX was one of the best decisions I have made so far. It was a mere thought I had the last year when I saw one of my friends got the ticket. I was too late at the point, and I decided to apply for this year. And the dream came true.
WHY DID I WANT THIS OPPORTUNITY?
If you’ve read this far of the story, you would probably know why. I wanted more exposure. More experience. More opportunities to evolve, grow and thrive. I was fortunate enough to find and to be found by Sustainable Education Foundation or our beloved SEF. An organization whose foremost aim is to provide opportunities for local students to connect with experts in industry and academia around the world and to build a network of individuals who are capable of leading this country to a better future. Of course, FROM BRAIN DRAIN TO BRAIN GAIN, because we are in essence of brains. Not only that SEF helps local students to gain exposure, in return SEF provides the insight for them to develop a sense of responsibility to the country because a generation of educated individuals can make a huge difference and change the current direction of Sri Lanka. I believe SEF is a silent guardian to local students and a wake-up call for local experts in industry and academia that they can do BETTER. In that regard, ScholarX by SEF is by far making the most impact, leading a generation towards the light.
ScholarX Program is a 6-month mentoring program where Sri Lankan students get the opportunity to contact experts in academia and industry with outstanding capabilities. In a world where such exposure is of privilege, SEF provides a FREE opportunity for students with a purpose. Even with their busy schedules and numerous responsibilities, the mentors are humble enough to take a group of students under their wings and nurture them for the better, throughout the 6 months. SEF is doing this every year, only because of determined individuals, providing a great example to most of the local higher education institutes and universities which have no proper program to guide their students regarding career development.
My story so far as a ScholarX mentee
I was fortunate enough to be a mentee to Dr. Hasitha Mahabaduge, who is an expert in the field of Physics and Materials Science. As my first intention of getting into ScholarX 2021 was to build up my academic profile and prepare for graduate studies in the coming year, Dr. Mahabaduge has already provided me great insight and made a great impact on how I see this career path. Since the first meeting of ScholarX 2021, I have done a lot of work related to my application process, which I’ve been procrastinating on for the longest time. Not only that, I had the chance to push my boundaries as a researcher and work continuously to be better at what I do. Not just as an individual, but also as a group.
- I started working on preparing my CV and my Statement of Purpose aiming at the application process.
- I have decided dates for taking the exams (TOEFL and GRE)
- I started working on a new potential research idea that is related to my current research work.
- ScholarX program has helped me to put my goals into a proper timeline and to always keep my focus on the goals.
During a short time, Dr. Mahabaduge and the group of mentees had frequent meetings and we discussed several aspects of the program that we could work on. I find the group meetings more insightful, as we all have different viewpoints and different capabilities, that can achieve great things and thrive to great lengths when put together. I will always be thankful to ScholarX 2021 and Dr. Mahabaduge for the chance they provided for me to work in a group of talented and focused individuals. As a group, we are currently working on a few things that can make an impact on society and on us as individuals.
- We are working on collaborative research that could benefit us all as students.
- We are working on a community awareness project about the Xpress PEarl disaster that happened recently and hopefully, this project would make a good impact on the general public regarding the said incident and how things unfolded ever since.
With a focus and a driving force, we are all working towards goals that we all had from the beginning of the program. All I can say is that ScholarX has always been beyond expectations for me. The energy, the productivity, and the efficiency I had since the initiation is rising, at the end of a month. I hope these 6 months would benefit me the best, regarding my purpose.
Final, but not so final thoughts…
ScholarX program did not happen overnight. Nor did the thought of such a program came into someone’s mind by revelation or through a dream. The founders of SEF have seen the difficulties of graduates in a third-world country and experienced them first-hand. Not all people who have been through hell and back decide to make a better path for the coming generations. But there are a few great minds, who have understood their purpose and started serving that purpose in different ways, without complaining. In my humble opinion, the founders of SEF and ScholarX are such rare personalities. Not just they have seen the world but they also decided to make it easier for someone else. They’ve lit the torch. They decided to clear the path for local students, no matter where they live around the world and they signed up for a task that they don’t even get paid for.
For us to thrive, for us to crawl out of the pit we are in, we need more of them. There must be another generation to carry that torch. I believe we are that generation. I believe a great responsibility has fallen on our shoulders to not only be successfully graduated as the ScholarX class of 2021 but also to stick with SEF so that we can help more people to change their lives and to grow and to evolve.
I think that is what we signed up for. That is how we gain “brain.” That is how we thrive. That is how we sustain. With a pledge to do my best for that purpose, I would like to make this a chance to humbly thank SEF and all the mentors of ScholarX 2021 program for serving a great responsibility. I hope ScholarX 2022 will be even more successful.
See you in a month.
