The opportunity which I missed and which I got
In this series of articles, I am planning to share my experience and gainings through the ScholarX 2021 journey…
In this article, I’ll be sharing about the program and how did I found and applied for it and also about the first few meeting experiences. Don’t confuse 😇 with the title, I put it for a reason and I’ll come to that in a while through this article. More than an article this would be a kind of story about my journey to ScholarX.
The ScholarX Mentorship Program
ScholarX is a 6-month mentorship program founded by the Sustainable Education Foundation (SEF).
ScholarX is a 6-month program for Sri-Lankan undergraduates who would like to get free premium mentoring during their study period. Successful undergraduates will gain access to mentoring from some of the foremost experts and outstanding talent from around the world in both Industry and Academia. The ScholarX program also helps connect Sri Lankans across the globe and creates a platform that allows those living abroad to contribute directly to students and the Sri Lankan education system. The aim is to create a sustainable flow of knowledge back into Sri Lanka and help fill some of the void left by the country’s brain drain. — (Source : SEF)
Amazing stuff!!! Isn’t it ??
As it stated by the SEF, the ScholarX mentorship program is a great initiative which allows the Sri Lankan undergraduates to connect and collaborate with some great academic scholars and industry experts from all over the world. This gives a great chance for the undergraduates to get guidance, valuable insights and knowledge from the scholars and experts which groom them for a great future.
This (2021) is the third edition of the ScholarX programme with over 75 mentors from worldwide and over 250 mentees from different universities and from various fields. Kudos for the founder and the team of SEF for this valuable initiative and successfully continuing the program for the third time. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to Sustainable Education Foundation for this amazing opportunity given to me this time. Looking forward for a fruitful 6 months ahead!!
The Missed Opportunity
Yeah, you got it right! This section is for noobs 🥳 like me, just kidding!! Here I’ll be sharing my real worst experience about how I missed the chance initially. This may be pretty long and boring sometimes… If you feel the same move to the next section directly…
I included this section in this article mainly for the readers to learn from my mistake and to understand the value of an opportunity. So, peeps don’t be like me when making mistakes…
So, first I heard about the ScholarX program way back in the 2020 (toughest period of our life right 🙃) through a WhatsApp message in our university group. There were some phrases as I remember now like ‘6-month mentorship’, ‘stand out from the crowd’, ‘apply now’ etc.. The message was shared by my batch mate Ganguli Rajapaksha in the group. I don’t know much about the SEF at that time but I know about her that she’ll always share something useful. My little brain striked, and as a first step I forwarded the message to some other groups and then I clicked the link in that message which led me to the application form.
So far so good, but this is where I made the big mistake which made me to regret later. I was super lazy at that time to read stuffs and do things. I just followed the link blindly and filled some basic information. It was asked there that we have to select at least 3 mentors as our preference and we wanted to upload our CV as well. So, peeps you know what happened? Yeah! I was lazy enough to go through the mentors list to read and select the suitable ones for me and I didn’t have my CV ready at that time to submit. There was enough time for the deadline. So, I thought of doing it later and in the time being I forgot all of these stuffs. Yeah guys I’m super good at forgetting things. What an amazing person I’m 😶
After some time I came across a WhatsApp status of my friend Judy Mathushika Manohitharaj saying that she got selected for a mentorship program with a nice poster. My little brain striked again to see the SEF logo and wondered about the post and I messaged her to ask about it. She replied “You are the one who forwarded about this in the group”. You guess it right, the reply was a real shock for me. However, I didn’t worry too much about it at that time and went back to my routine.
Again, after some period of time, I saw some LinkedIn posts from my mates Judy Mathushika Manohitharaj and Chamodi Perera. They shared their medium articles about the experiences they gained from the ScholarX program. I read those articles and it was really nice that what they gained from the program was amazing. That was the time where I regretted for my mistakes. My laziness and careless attitude caused me to lose an amazing opportunity.
Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity — H. Jackson Brown
The Second Chance
Yeah, 2020 was a real mess not only for me but also for the whole world. It hit us so hard. However, we have survived so far and will hope for a better future.
Here we go to the real story, So, 3 months back, I came across a LinkedIn post again, from my mate Chamodi Perera about the ScholarX 2021 program. This time my little brain hit me so hard and told me “Here you go! this is your second chance and don’t miss it this time”
Don’t think there are no second chances. Life always offers you a second chance… — Nicholas Sparks
Yeah! the quote is absolutely correct. I had my second chance in my hands. This time I didn’t make any mistakes and I was not lazy again to miss the valuable opportunity. I went to the SEF website right after I saw the post. I went through the mentors list thoroughly and picked three of them according to my interest. This time I also had my CV ready. So, there were nothing to hold me back from applying. I clicked on the link and filled the application form and submitted it. Boom! It’s done. Yeah, It’s done 😀
Next, I wanted to wait for the selection process to be finished and the results need to be announced from SEF. Fingers crossed 🤞
The Day
Yeah! finally, the day came. On April 26th I got a mail from SEF with the title “ScholarX 2021 — We Have A Match!”. I was Really happy to see that mail. This was the opportunity that I missed and this was the day which I waited for.
If you ever get a second chance in life for something, you’ve got to go all the way... — Lance Armstrong
Finally, I was able to grab the opportunity. There were some steps need to be completed before the official start of the program. This time I know the value of this opportunity and I didn’t waste any time. I followed the steps mentioned in the mail immediately and also read the student guide for the program as well. Then, I was eagerly waiting for the program to start officially.
ScholarX Introductory Session
After two weeks of time from that mail we had our first virtual meeting on 12th of May organized by the SEF team. The meeting was a kind of orientation for the mentees.
We had a chance to hear from the founder of the SEF, Akshika Wijesundara and the advisor Minuri Adasuriya about the foundation and the ScholarX program. The meeting was even graceful with the success stories shared by the previous ScholarX alumni Kithmini Herath and Kithmin Wickremasinghe. The stories from them motivated me further to grab some valuable knowledge through the program.
*** The article become quite long than I expected. So, I’ll share about my mentor and the meeting experiences with my mentor in the next article. Since this is my first article on a digital space, there will be room to improve myself as a writer. Bear with my mistakes and leave your opinions and valuable comments to improve myself. ***
Once again I thank the Sustainable Education Foundation for this rare opportunity given to me. I am looking forward many more inspiring sessions with my mentor in the next 6 months and I’ll be sharing the knowledge from the sessions with all of you in the next few months through these series of articles. Looking forward for your support… Have a great day ahead 😃
