Mysuru: It was a proud moment for Emelife Stella Chinelo, a Nigerian student at University of Mysuru, as she made a rich haul of 25 medals during the 99th convocation here on Sunday. Stella secured first rank in MSc Chemistry and bagged the highest number of medals at the convocation, held at Crafford Hall in the university campus.
A total of 210 candidates bagged 372 medals and 184 prizes, out of which 132 (62.85%) were women. A total of 28,163 students were conferred with degrees, out of which 18,127 (64.5%) were women. Around 384 students were conferred with Phds and 116 (43.2%) were women.
Stella is the eldest among seven children of her parents Christopher Emelife, a businessman and Caroline Emelife a high school teacher, from Anambra, eastern Nigeria.
She claims she studied in government institutions all through her school and college life and stood first in all her exams. She did her bachelor's degree in Applied Chemistry, at Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto in Nigeria.
After completing her master's here Stella had left for Nigeria in July last year and subsequently got married in December and is currently teaching at a school in Nigeria. She flew in from Nigeria to attend the convocation.
Sharing her recipe for success, Stella said, “I devote most of my time in studies and I enjoy it. In addition, I was part of lot of activities of St Peter's catholic church in Mysuru, and even part of the church choir. I love Indian food, especially paratha, and miss it in Nigeria."
She observed that academic excellence was highly respected in India and that is why the country has prospered. "I have taken back this message to my country to covey to my people," she said.
As for future plans, Stella said, “I wish to be a lecturer and also pursue research. I wish to take up topics to find solutions for local health problems faced by my country, including malaria and cancer. I also wish to take up research in recycling used materials to generate fuel.”
