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Vesna Okereke, a 21-year-old Babcock University graduate, shares how she stopped cramming and studied smarter to graduate with a first class in Anatomy.
Vesna Okereke, who graduated from Babcock University in 2025 with a first-class degree in Anatomy, speaks with TEMITOPE ADETUNJI about her academic journeyI gained admission to Babcock University in 2021 and graduated on July 11, 2025, with a first-class degree in Anatomy, achieving a final GPA of 5.0 and a CGPA of 4.67, emerging as the second-best graduating student in the Department of Anatomy.
Beyond academics, I have interests in organisation building, human development, and holistic growth, particularly in improving people and systems to function more effectively across spheres ranging from medicine and business to education. I am from Imo State, Nigeria, and I come from a family that places a strong value on excellence, responsibility, and the importance of making good use of the resources available to us.
Growing up with these values made me conscious of the sacrifices my parents made for my education, so I always wanted my academic performance to reflect and justify their investment in me. My childhood was shaped by strong family values, discipline, and high expectations. I grew up with the understanding that education was important and that I was expected to give my best in whatever I pursued.
I was also known in my family as “the smart one,” and that identity influenced how I saw myself for many years. I am the second of four children. I was a very serious and academically driven student. I was accustomed to doing well and studying hard, which generally produced good results for me.
However, one lesson university taught me was that being intelligent is not enough; you must also know how to adapt your learning system to a new environment. Interestingly, Anatomy was not my first choice. I initially applied to study Medicine and Surgery, but I was offered Anatomy with the possibility of transferring to Medicine if I maintained at least a 4.5 CGPA in my first year.
That possibility motivated me strongly, and I finished my first year with a 4.73 CGPA. Although the transfer eventually did not happen, continuing with Anatomy became one of the most transformative experiences of my life. Initially, my attraction to Anatomy was largely connected to Medicine because I saw it as a possible pathway into medical school. I did not begin the programme with the expectation that Anatomy itself would become such an important part of my journey.
However, over time, I developed a deeper appreciation for the discipline and its importance in medicine and research. I came to understand that Anatomy was more than dealing with cadavers, as it is often stereotyped in Nigeria. Instead, it is a field that opens the door to multiple research possibilities in science, including histology, histopathology, and cell biology, and the list continues.
I became much more intentional about graduating with a first class after I experienced a significant decline in my second year. That period forced me to reassess myself, my study methods, and my motivation. I realised that I could not continue relying on the methods that had worked for me in secondary school. I needed a more sustainable system and a deeper reason to keep going.
I wanted to excel from the beginning, but I would not say that a perfect 5.0 CGPA was my defining goal from the first year. In fact, my initial motivation was to maintain the required CGPA to transfer to Medicine. As my journey progressed, my focus shifted from simply achieving a particular number to understanding my coursework, developing consistency and discipline, and becoming the best version of myself overall.
Initially, I relied heavily on memorisation and cramming because those methods had worked for me in high school. Eventually, I realised I needed to understand rather than simply memorise. I began paying close attention to my lecturers: their thought processes, the concepts they emphasised, how they explained topics, and how they expected answers to be presented. Sometimes, I would jokingly say that I only attended lectures not to understand the coursework, but to study and understand the lecturer.
Regardless, I took time to write detailed notes and revise consistently. That approach helped me study more intelligently rather than simply studying for long hours. The volume and depth of information were challenging, especially because Anatomy requires both understanding and retention. The challenge wasn’t just learning individual concepts but retaining and connecting a large amount of information across different areas.
Beyond the coursework itself, maintaining consistency during periods of disappointment and self-doubt was also challenging. I learnt not to be ashamed of not understanding something immediately. I went back to the material, broke difficult concepts into simpler parts, watched simpler YouTube videos, and synchronised them with the lecturer’s explanations. I also focused on understanding the reasoning behind a concept rather than memorising isolated facts.
This method made difficult topics much more understandable. Months of sleepless nights earned me first class – LASU 2025 best graduate I did not operate with a rigid number of study hours every day. I focused more on being intentional and productive with the time available to me.
I prepared for examinations by consistently reviewing my lecture notes after each day’s classes; I would identify areas I did not understand and form possible questions from the parts the lecturer emphasised, particularly the major areas. I learnt that effective studying was more about consistency and understanding than simply counting hours. What was the most challenging period of your undergraduate journey academically, and how did you get through it? My second year was the most difficult period academically.
After the disappointment of not being able to transfer to Medicine, my performance began to decline. I struggled with self-doubt, anxiety, and disappointment, and my social environment did not help matters. At some point, returning to school felt like a burden, and I considered leaving. The major turning point came on December 31, 2025, when I experienced a personal breakdown and began questioning my purpose and direction.
I turned to God and began intentionally seeking Him through prayer and Bible study. On February 16, 2026, after listening to a sermon by Pastor Jerry Eze, I had what I describe as a personal encounter with Jesus. That experience gave me a renewed sense of purpose and a sustainable drive to continue. The biggest sacrifices were related to discipline and limiting my social life.
I had to become intentional about my time, environment, habits and what I allowed to occupy my mind. I also had to let go of comfort and the assumption that I already knew how to succeed. I had to be willing to unlearn, relearn and adapt. I learnt that balance does not necessarily mean always giving everything equal attention.
There were seasons when academics required more of my attention. I became more intentional about the people around me, how I spent my time and the activities I allowed into my routine. The goal was to ensure that my social life did not compromise my purpose. Yes.
There was a point when I genuinely questioned whether I could still succeed academically or amount to anything. My second-year struggles and the disappointment of not transferring to Medicine; I even considered leaving school. What changed was that I stopped defining my future by those setbacks. I reassessed myself, found a renewed sense of purpose through God and rebuilt my approach to school.
My parents were an important source of support, particularly during difficult periods. However, the deepest and most sustainable source of motivation I found was my relationship with God. My faith gave me a sense of purpose beyond grades and helped me continue when academic validation alone was no longer enough motivation for me. My family created an environment where excellence was expected and education was taken seriously.
Their expectations sometimes felt like pressure, but in retrospect, they also helped build discipline and a strong work ethic in me. It was a deeply emotional moment. Beyond the number itself, I saw the result as evidence of how far I had come through the grace of God. I remembered the disappointment, self-doubt, difficult seasons and moments when I had questioned whether I would succeed.
So, seeing the result was not simply about being happy with a 5.0; it was a reminder that the experiences I once considered failures had contributed to my growth. I believe the greatest contributor was finding a sustainable drive. Intelligence and hard work matter, but they are difficult to sustain when you do not have a deeper reason for what you are doing.
I learnt to adapt when my plans changed, become disciplined, understand rather than cram, and grow beyond academics. I also worked on incorporating holistic growth into my journey as a person by growing in character, knowledge, communication, emotional maturity, relationships and spirituality. Not getting into Medicine, being unable to transfer, and struggling academically forced me to reassess myself and develop resilience. Ultimately, for me, God became the ultimate source of my drive.
My degree in anatomy is a foundation rather than the end of my academic journey. I intend to continue developing myself academically and professionally while unifying my interests in organisational building, holistic growth and human development. My long-term goal is to build expertise in organisational building to support the management and administration of organisational structures ranging from hospitals and schools to foundations and businesses, with the aim of improving efficiency and operations.
I am interested in the idea that strong organisations are not built only through good intentions; they require sound systems, capable people, effective leadership and structures that allow those people to perform at their best. Temitope Adetunji is a journalist at Punch Newspapers who specialises in human-interest storytelling. She brings years of experience in online journalism into her work, having transitioned into print reporting with a strong digital foundation.
Temitope is passionate about amplifying real-life narratives and highlighting the lived experiences that shape everyday people. Her reporting reflects hands-on newsroom experience, empathy-driven storytelling, and a commitment to accurate, people-centred journalism. All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
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