In a first, a student from the nursing stream will receive the most number of gold medals at the 26th annual convocation of the Rahul Gandhi University of Health and Sciences (RGUHS) to be held on Tuesday.
Felentina James (B.Sc. Nursing) from the KLE Society’s Institute of Nursing Sciences, Hubballi, is the highest gold medal winner this year with five. She is followed by two other girl students, Prajna N. (AYUSH course), Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Udupi, with four gold medals and two cash prizes, followed by Anarghya V. Kulkarni (B.Pharm course), Sonia Education Trust College of Pharmacy, Dharwad, with three gold medals.
The highest number of gold medals was secured by M.D and M.S medical students with 18 gold medals, followed by 12 medals for M.D and M.S ayurveda students, and nine medals for M.D.S students.
M.K. Ramesh, Vice-Chancellor, RGUHS, revealed that 88 candidates have secured 100 gold medals this year, out of which 70 medals have been secured by women candidates and 18 by male.
Speaking to The Hindu, Ms. James said she owes her success to her parents and her faculty. “I was a topper until SSLC, however, during my PU days, I was distracted and lacked focus. When I joined this course, I was determined to work hard from day one and not lose focus. My college has also been the top gold medal winning college for the third consecutive year now. I owe it all to my parents and my college faculty.“
Ms. James said she was very keen on doing a nursing course because her sister too is a nurse, and she did the same course in the same college. “Since nurses are usually ill-treated in our country, many people preferer becoming a doctor or technician in the medical field or prefer to work as a nurse abroad. However, as youngsters, it is our responsibility to change this notion about our country by motivating more students to get into the field of nursing,“ said Ms. James, who plans to pursue her Masters of Science in Nursing.
Dr. Prajna said: “There were good and bad days during the entire course, it was a challenge to keep focused, but with the support of family, friends, lecturers I was determined to do well... My message to students who want to secure medals is to give their 100%, to take it easy and not stress themselves.”
Ms. Kulkarni said her secret behind securing three medals was consistency and hard work. “I was on track and studied all my books from the first day of the course, so that it would not be a burden towards the end,“ she said.
