28-year-old Aarinola Olaiya has become the first person to graduate with distinction in Surgery from OAU since 1989.

She will be graduating with 12 distinctions and after emerging as the 2017 overall best student from the medical school of the university, she broke a 28 years old record at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

In an interview with Punchng, Olaiya said:

“I really cannot explain it.

What I can say is that the grace of God has been at work from my first day in the university. Apart from that, I am a focused person. I always like to have a goal in mind and I make sure that I focus on that goal without giving room to distractions.

I think this is what happened. Right from the day I was admitted into the university, I made sure that I remained focused in my studies. On her daily routine as an undergraduate, she said: “Every day, I would wake up, have my bath and attend lectures. . I usually go to the classroom in the morning. Sometimes, I would attend a lecture at 8am till about 4pm. Then I would return to my hostel to have some rest and attend to other things or proceed on call.

Sometimes I would stay on call till the following day. Basically my daily routine was like that.”

On her relationship life, she said: “Yes. I have a boyfriend, but I never allowed him to come between me and my studies.  He does not live in Ile-Ife. So he visits me in school sometimes. Most of the time, we communicate to each other via the telephone.”