One semester down, many more to go

Wed, Jan 8th 2014, 06:00 PM

With one semester under his belt, and about one million and five to go (in his words) Shannon Butler who is arguably one of the country's brightest minds in the Class of 2013 said his initial foray into the university scene went pretty well, but was tough at the same time, due to the schedule he had to maintain.

"It was just school, school, school," said Shannon, 18, a freshman at the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland who is on Christmas break from his studies towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Medicine. He wants to become a cardiothoracic surgeon.

"The semester went pretty well I thought, even though it was tough basically because I was on a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule everyday (except for one day out of the week when his classes ran 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.) After classes he had to factor in study time as well.

"I don't know if it's just the university or the United Kingdom in general, but we didn't get any breaks this [past] semester," said the young man, who was named the All Bahamas Merit Scholar and awarded a four-year $140,000 scholarship after being named the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity's 2013 valedictorian and awarded a $6,000 scholarship.

Shannon's first semester was predesigned and set in stone. He took the normal three university modules -- chemistry, biology and a third module which was a combination of different classes -- medical ethics, scientific methods, English for academic purposes and communication skills which basically focused on doctor-patient communication.

He won't receive his grades for his first semester until the end of January, but is hoping they will be returned with first class honors in all of his modules. The University of St. Andrew's does not actually use a grade point average scheme or a letter grade scheme. Students are graded on a 20-point scale with 17 to 20 being first class honors, 14 to 16 being upper second, 11 to 13 being lower second and anything below that being third class and merit and fail. At least Shannon thinks anything below an 11 is a failure. He has never seen one of those grades and doesn't plan to ever find out.

"I feel I did pretty well. I'm hoping to get first class honors in all of my modules."

Prior to leaving for the United Kingdom, the Queen's College (QC) graduate had spoken about looking forward to the new chapter in his life, broadening his horizons, experiencing a new culture and meeting people from across the globe. He's certainly done that. In the week before university began he participated in what they call Fresher's Week with the other incoming fresher's (they do not say freshmen) and they partied and socialized getting to know people, which he said helped. (Although he admits he did not party as much as other people.) When school started he said the partying fell away as he didn't have much time for socialization due to his schedule.

Known for his focus, as a high school student Shannon distinguished himself with an impressive academic record having achieved 10 Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) awards with nine A grades and one B grade. The results earned him the award for the best BGCSE results in the country; the best results from an independent school student and the highest award in Mathematics.

It was the education foundation that was set in his formative years that has allowed him to make an easy transition into his educational pursuits at university. He says he did not have to make any adjustments to his study habits.

"I never really had a study plan or academic plan. Usually I just tried to get my work done as fast as I could and study when I had the time to," said the son of Peter and Wendy Butler.

The toughest thing for him was the homesickness as he craved the comfort of the familiar, especially as he did not know anyone. "It was really, really daunting," he said. (There is another Bahamian at the University of St. Andrew's, a senior who is studying biology and is pre-med. Shannon says he has not met any other Caribbean people at his university).

While at home during his winter break he definitely soaked up the sights, sounds and foods that he missed. It's those memories that he will take back with him to sustain him through his second semester. He definitely soaked up all the foods while he was at home, and took the time out to help his grandmother cook soup yesterday, on what was the coolest day of the year so far.

As he prepares to return to Scotland, Shannon's advice to high school seniors who are preparing to graduate high school and who will be making the transition into university life in about seven months time, is to ensure that they decide on attending a school that they really think they like, and to ensure that they pick a course of study that they like.

"Just make sure that you're in a healthy environment and be prepared to buckle down and do your work, pull all-nighters and study as much as necessary to get the grades that you need. But also try to genuinely enjoy yourself and have a great time," said the former Q.C. head boy and valedictorian.

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