The Portfolio Student

i want you

to rewind down memory lane

to the eight-year-old you

to the curious adorable

bold dreamer you

you were full of ideas

you wanted to become someone new every

day

from superman on sundays to pilot on

thursdays

you never really settled for one dream

well i am here to tell you that the

future

is for the eight-year-old inside you

the future head is for the portfolio

student

a student who doesn’t define themselves

with one path

in their life sure they may have one

bigger goal

but they choose not to be labeled by

that

one dream and instead carve

a multi-dimensional future for

themselves

there are people who see themselves

making an impact

in not one but different places in

society

these are the true explorers of tomorrow

after moving to dubai for medical school

in 2016

it wasn’t long before i saw the

tradition

of being part of a predefined lifestyle

the expectations of a medical student

were sworn

by over hundreds of years of practicing

doctors

we knew that attending classes

and spending more time with our books

with jars of coffee

and all-nighters was the key to doing

well

in most exams

now i always struggled with this idea of

success

it doesn’t help when the definition of

success

is defined and limited to one factor

exams in this case

on top of that i wasn’t great with

giving exams either

in fact i had to work much harder than

the rest of my colleagues

to just make it through living with this

one label of success and not being able

to shine through

was slowly killing the student within

it took me a few more years

to realize that i had to be an explorer

i had to find new ways to define success

beyond the books i

knew that perhaps a few more years

would give me the understanding that

normal

isn’t what i see but what i

choose to live create and explore

for my own well-being

so what now all i really had was an idea

and my endless jars of coffee

sometimes this pause and reflect

attitude

goes a long way in finding your future

self

and that’s exactly what i did

this is where the concept of a portfolio

student came in

i decided to break my own comfort zone

and try to be not the best medical

student there is

but instead i went on to search for

growth

in anything and everything

this meant creating a portfolio of

non-traditional interests that may or

may not align

with my bigger goal of medicine

from taking up internships in business

and technology to building a social

media presence

to highlight my interests in artificial

intelligence

the chances of hitting the success stone

increased exponentially

this also meant sending out those cold

emails to people

that i didn’t know but i really wanted

to learn from

this meant applying for opportunities

and then

challenging myself to learn the basics

from their own

we worry about jumping into a new path

but forget that the uncertain leap of

faith

is really what makes life worthwhile

it all started with my decision to

unlabel

my identity as a medical student

yes i was still part of medical school

and had exams just like any other

student but i

also wanted to add a bigger diverse

meaning

to my place in life

imagine being part of your bigger goal

and still growing in all directions from

there

it felt rewarding on so many levels

by going beyond this field and

keeping my love for medicine stronger

than ever

as a result of embracing

new opportunities in medicine

engineering

business research technology

social media and even mental health

this became a testament of hope

that you and i are much bigger than our

dreams

not only did this add to a list of

unique opportunities

it also helped gain experience and

skills

that a traditional medical school

journey would never have given

the perspective of being a portfolio

student

meant that i could share insights from a

much

wider lens than most students could ever

see

inside a classroom it helped me believe

that maybe just maybe

i don’t have to worry about where i am

today

because i can do more than one thing and

find happiness

in my future eventually

work on the present stay humble

and the future follows you to your

destination

being a portfolio student is more than

adding a list of titles to your

name it’s about carving your own path

and leaving no stone unturned

in this journey of self-discovery the

future

is not always about those who label

themselves

as a doctor engineer or a scientist

those are all great dreams to work

towards

and the world needs you there too

but real global change

comes when you start to see the bigger

picture

when you see yourself connecting

different fields together

and making something out of everything

let’s work towards a future

where we don’t need to rewind to our

eight-year-old self

every time we forget our purpose in the

present

a future where we make decisions from

lived experiences

where we don’t have to hide from failure

but instead allow failure to guide us to

the next milestone

let’s also work towards transforming

schools homes and cities

to think outside the box of today’s

normal today’s generation

cannot be shaped by the ideas and

expectations of the past

these are exciting times to define your

role as a

student and shape new measures of

success

through self-growth

it is only when you challenge this norm

that you begin to see the portfolio

student reborn

thank you

you