In my early years, I enjoyed the playful moments with my family and still do as a teenager especially the jovial nature of my mother. However, as I mature further into my teenage years, my father would say with a solemn face, Malika, the gateway to success in life is to invest all your energies in education and ended that thought with …only you and you alone can create and make that opportunity possible. For a moment, I thought my father was mentally deranged and when I believed his stories had ended, out came the question, What are your career pathways? followed by …you need to start planning now…time is short.
Whether these words were my fathers, quotes or just old sayings, as young people, these were just stories and did not mean anything to us.
Interestingly, as I reflect on my primary and secondary academic years, one would think that leaving school with 10 CSEC subjects is one of the most significant accomplishments of any student.
However, this is far from the truth it is just the gateway to new and more significant challenges and opportunities. Consistently, I have worked very hard to achieve high individual standards and goals even under hostile and testing conditions. These difficulties have helped in building my aptitudes, competencies, interpersonal skills, critical thinking skills, and readiness to work alone and with others. Therefore, when I discovered the talent for Art, Music, and Home Economics, the idea of blending these disciplines into my career pathway was predetermined.
Currently, I am an Architecture GPA 3.47 final year student at the Antigua and Barbuda International Institute of Technology pursuing an Associates degree. During this time, I gained knowledge and experience in Architecture as well as transferable skills that are relevant in this field. My enrolment has opened a new world of knowledge and experience to me. It brought with it new challenges. Since architecture, construction, and engineering are traditionally considered a mans field and profession and having attended an all girls high school and now a co-education institution.
Studying at the University of Westminster will qualify me with the fundamental skills as a technologist and manager for architects, city planners, construction managers, and interior designers. The programmes will also prepare me to analyse and design systems, perform cost estimates and analyses and will prepare and empower me to deal with diversity, complexity, and change.
Apart from the acquired academic expectations, professional, and competencies gained, studying at the University will moreover grant me the opportunity to be exposed to and immersed in a new culture; exposure to an universally diverse community that will enhance the quality of learning; develop knowledge of construction methods and standards, drafting and design, and the structural design involved in building construction; opportunities to learn from renowned experts and gain some impressive work experience; open to new knowledge and expertise that are applicable and adaptable to the workplace; gaining independence to develop as an individual; and provides an opportunity to extend ones field of view and helps one to understand and analyse problems.