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